Abstract
An optically transparent cell-embedded tissue-mimicking phantom was developed to study high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIUF)-induced gene activation in vitro. The phantom was constructed by using agarose hydrogel embedded with dispersed rat mammary carcinoma (Mac) cells that were stably transfected with GFP plasmid under the control of hsp70B promoter. Thermally sensitive bovine serum albumin (BSA) proteins were also incorporated in the phantom so that both lesion formation and gene activation could be quantified simultaneously following HIFU exposure. Both acoustic (sound speed, attenuation, acoustic impedance, B/A ratio) and thermal properties (thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity) of the phantom were characterized in a temperature-dependent manner. At a peak temperature between 70<th>°C and 90<th>°C and a 10-s exposure using a 3.3-MHz HIFU transducer, the inducible GFP gene expression patterns in the phantom were analyzed and compared with the corresponding 3-D temperature distribution quantified by thermocouple measurements. Overall, the cell-embedded tissue-mimicking phantom was found to be a versatile tool for investigating HIFU-induced gene activation and it may also be used for general ultrasound bio-effect studies. [Work supported by NIH.]
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