Investigation on the physiological-level-electric-field induced mechanical changes in soft biological tissues and its application to medical imaging

在生物组织中，固定电荷可以存在于细胞表面和细胞外基质中。电荷存在的一个后果是细胞和生物组织将以各种方式受到外加电场的影响。最近，申请人的团队报道了一种新的效应：生理水平电场诱导的全身软组织机械变化(PLEFIMC)。结果表明，在生理水平的外电场作用下，各种块状生物软组织都会发生力学变化，这些变化可以被商业化的超声仪器监测到。目前认为PLEFIMC与组织内的电动效应有关。在这项研究计划中，申请人提议调查明胶模体和生物组织中PLEFIMC的潜在机制，并研究利用PLEFIMC开发一种新的生物医学成像方法的可行性。新方法提供的成像信息可能会丰富商业超声机提供的信息，使疾病能够更准确地早期检测。

Fixed electric charges can exist on the surfaces of cells and in the extracellular matrix in biological tissues. One consequence of the existence of the charges is that the cells and biological tissues will be affected by an applied electric field in various ways. Recently, the applicant's team reported a new effect: physiological-level-electric-field induced mechanical changes (PLEFIMC) in general bulk soft tissues. It was shown that there were mechanical changes in various bulk soft biological tissues when they were subjected to a physiological-level external electric field, and that these changes could be monitored commercial ultrasound instruments. It is proposed that PLEFIMC is related to the electrokinetic effects in tissues. In this research program, the applicant proposes to investigate the mechanisms underlying PLEFIMC in gelatin phantoms and biological tissues and study the feasibility of utilizing PLEFIMC in the development of a novel biomedical imaging method. The imaging information provided by the new method can potentially enrich the information provided by commercial ultrasound machines, enabling more accurate early detection of diseases.