An alternative quantitative acoustical and electrical method for detection of cell adhesion process in real-time.

Sauerbrey [(1956), Z Phys 55:206-222] showed that the shift in resonance frequency of thickness shear mode (TSM) of a quartz crystal sensor is proportional to the mass, which is deposited on it. However, new powerful electrical circuits were developed that are capable of operating TSM quartz crystal sensors in fluids which enabled this method to be introduced into electrochemical and biological applications. These applications include the detection of virus capsids, bacteria, mammalian cells, the interaction of DNA and RNA with complementary strands, specific recognition of protein ligands by immobilized receptors, and last but not least the study of complete immunosensors.

Additive effect of RGD coating to functionalized titanium surfaces on human osteoprogenitor cell adhesion and spreading.

Titanium-based biomaterials for endosseous implants have found widespread applications in the orthopedic, maxillofacial, and dental domains. Indeed, the surface characteristics such as their chemical modification control considerably the cellular response and, subsequently, the quality and the quantity of new-formed bone around the implant. In this study, human osteoprogenitor (HOP) cell adhesion on different titanium surfaces functionalized with hydroxyapatite (HA), type I collagen, or Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD)-containing peptides is investigated by the quartz crystal resonators and by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) for the imaging of focal contact formation.

Progress towards in vitro quantitative imaging of human femur using compound quantitative ultrasonic tomography.

The objective of this study is to make cross-sectional ultrasonic quantitative tomography of the diaphysis of long bones. Ultrasonic propagation in bones is affected by the severe mismatch between the acoustic properties of this biological solid and those of the surrounding soft medium, namely, the soft tissues in vivo or water in vitro. Bone imaging is then a nonlinear inverse-scattering problem.

Monitoring cell adhesion processes on bioactive polymers with the quartz crystal resonator technique.

The Thickness Shear Mode (TSM) quartz crystal resonator has been extensively used as sensitive sensor in various electrochemical and biological applications. This technique based on the propagation of an ultrasonic shear wave generated by a sinusoidal electric field through a piezoelectric quartz resonator, provides a non-destructive and powerful means to probe changes at solid-solid or solid-liquid interfaces. In this study, TSM was used to characterize cell-polymer interactions developing during the cell adhesion process.

Chirp-Z analysis for sol-gel transition monitoring.

Gelation is a complex reaction that transforms a liquid medium into a solid one: the gel. In gel state, some gel materials (DMAP) have the singular property to ring in an audible frequency range when a pulse is applied. Before the gelation point, there is no transmission of slow waves observed; after the gelation point, the speed of sound in the gel rapidly increases from 0.

Compressibility of nano inclusions in complex fluids by ultrasound velocity measurements.

We present a high precision ultrasonic velocimeter for a small volume sample (1 cm3) for a path length of 1 cm achieved. The method used is based on the time of flight measurement with an original signal processing technique: the barycenter method. With our system, we have measured the sound velocity with an accuracy of 10(-5).