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Quantifying Micro-mechanical Properties of Soft BiologicalTissues with Scanning Acoustic Microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

Xuegen Zhao ,
Steven Wilkinson ,
Riaz Akhtar ,
Michael J Sherratt ,
Rachel E B Watson  and
Brian Derby
Xuegen Zhao
Affiliation:
School of Materials, the University of Manchester, Manchester, M1 7HS, United Kingdom
Steven Wilkinson
Affiliation:
School of Materials, the University of Manchester, Manchester, M1 7HS, United Kingdom
Riaz Akhtar
Affiliation:
School of Materials, the University of Manchester, Manchester, M1 7HS, United Kingdom School of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PT, United Kingdom
Michael J Sherratt
Affiliation:
School of Biomedicine, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PT, United Kingdom
Rachel E B Watson
Affiliation:
Dermatological Sciences Research Group, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PT, United Kingdom
Brian Derby
Affiliation:
School of Materials, the University of Manchester, Manchester, M1 7HS, United Kingdom
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Abstract

In this study we have established a new approach to more accurately mapacoustic wave speed (which is a measure of stiffness) within soft biologicaltissues at micrometer length scales using scanning acoustic microscopy. Byusing thin (5 μm thick) histological sections of human skin and porcinecartilage, this method exploits the phase information preserved in theinterference between acoustic waves reflected from the substrate surface aswell as internal reflections from the acoustic lens. A stack of images weretaken with the focus point of acoustic lens positioned at or above thesubstrate surface, and processed pixel by pixel using custom softwaredeveloped with LABVIEW and IMAQ (National Instruments) to extract phaseinformation. Scanning parameters, such as acoustic wave frequency and gateposition were optimized to get reasonable phase and lateral resolution. Thecontribution from substrate inclination or uneven scanning surface wasremoved prior to further processing. The wave attenuation was also obtainedfrom these images.

Keywords

scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM)biologicalmicrostructure

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