HIGH FREQUENCY ACOUSTIC CHARACTERIZATION OF AGE-RELATED CHANGES IN MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF TISSUE

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Elastic fibres play a key role in normal tissue function, and age-related degenerative alterations in their biomechanical properties severely affect dynamic functions of the cardiovascular system, lungs and skin. This study aims to provide important information on the effects of ageing on the properties of tissue by bridging the gap between known mechanical changes at the whole tissue and molecular levels. This will be achieved through developing acoustic methods for characterising the mechanical properties of soft tissue. By using high frequency acoustic microscopy in the frequency range of 100 MHz - 1 GHz we will obtain spatially resolved maps of mechanical properties in thin histological sections with a spatial resolution in the x y plane of around 1 micron. This information will then be correlated with changes in the properties of elastic fibres extracted from tissue and combined with conventional biochemical, ultrastructural and proteomic approaches, to shed light on the causative mechanisms of elastic fibre ageing.