Ultrasonic monitoring of early development of lower vertebrate embryos

Abstract

In this paper, the scanning acoustic microscope is used for visualization of the lower vertebrate embryos in vivo. Compared to optical methods, high frequency ultrasonic imaging has a negligible effect on a developing organism, and chemical treatment of biological object is not required due to the high contrast of acoustic images and the deep penetration of ultrasound. A technique for continuous ultrasonic observation of a living embryo that grows in the immersion cell of the acoustic microscope is proposed and developed. Using this technique, it is possible to image the internal organs of the embryo, visualize the motion of the structural elements and estimate their velocity. The loach embryo (Misgurnus fossilis) at 11-12 stages of development was studied using the experimental setup based on the 50 MHz scanning acoustic microscope. The ultrasonic images of the yolk and blastula, animation of cell division and motion in the syncytial region and estimation of the velocity of the structural elements of the embryo were obtained by the developed method.