A comparative analysis of low intensity ultrasound effects on living cells: from simulation to experiments.

Ultrasounds are already broadly exploited in clinical diagnostics and are now becoming a powerful and not harmful tool in antitumoral therapies, as they are able to produce damages towards cancer cells, thank to inertial cavitation and temperature increase. The use of US alone or combined to molecular compounds, microbubbles or solid-state nanoparticles is the focus of current research and clinical trials, like thermoablation, drug sonoporation or sonodynamic therapies. In the present work, we discuss on the non-thermal effects of ultrasound and the conditions which enable oxygen radical production and which role they can have in provoking the death of different cancer cell lines.

Focalization Performance Study of a Novel Bulk Acoustic Wave Device.

This work illustrates focalization performances of a silicon-based bulk acoustic wave device applied for the separation of specimens owing to micrometric dimensions. Samples are separated in the microfluidic channel by the presence of an acoustic field, which focalizes particles or cells according to their mechanical properties compared to the surrounded medium ones. Design and fabrication processes are reported, followed by focalization performance tests conducted either with synthetic particles or cells.