An ex vivo Study of the Correlation Between Acoustic Emission and Microvascular Damage

The objective of this study was to conduct an ex vivo examination of correlation between acoustic emission and tissue damage. Intravital microscopy was employed in conjunction with ultrasound exposure in cremaster muscle of male Wistar rats. Definity microbubbles were administered intravenously through the tail vein (80 μL.kg−1.min−1infusion rate) with the aid of a syringe pump. For the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) study, exposures were performed at four locations of the cremaster at a PRF of 1000, 500, 100 and 10 Hz (one location per PRF per rat). The 100-pulse exposures were implemented at a peak rarefactional pressure (Pr) of 2 MPa, frequency of 2.25 MHz with 46 cycle pulses. For the pressure amplitude threshold study, 100-pulse exposures (46 cycle pulses) were conducted at various peak rarefactional pressures from 0.5 MPa to 2 MPa at a frequency of 2.25 MHz and PRF of 100 Hz. Photomicrographs were captured before and 2-min postexposure. On a pulse-to-pulse basis, the 10 Hz acoustic emission was considerably higher and more sustained than those at other PRFs (1000, 500, and 100 Hz) (p < 0.05). Damage, measured as area of extravasation of red blood cells (RBCs), was also significantly higher at 10 Hz PRF than at 1000, 500 and 100 Hz (p < 0.01). The correlation of acoustic emission to tissue damage showed a trend of increasing damage with increasing cumulative function of the relative integrated power spectrum (CRIPS; R2 = 0.75). No visible damage was present at Pr ≤ 0.85 MPa. Damage, however, was observed at Pr ≥ 1.0 MPa and it increased with increasing acoustic pressure. (E-mail: ssamuel@umich.edu)