Microscale acoustic metamaterials as conformal sonotransparent skull prostheses.
Gunho KimClaire RabutBill LingMikhail G ShapiroChiara DaraioPublished in: Research square (2023)
Functional ultrasound imaging enables sensitive, high-resolution imaging of neural activity in freely behaving animals and human patients. However, the skull acts as an aberrating and absorbing layer for sound waves, leading to most functional ultrasound experiments being conducted after skull removal. In pre-clinical settings, craniotomies are often covered with a polymethylpentene film, which offers limited longitudinal imaging, due to the film's poor conformability, and limited mechanical protection, due to the film's low stiffness. Here, we introduce a skull replacement consisting of a microstructured, conformal acoustic window based on mechanical metamaterials, designed to offer high stiffness-to-density ratio and sonotransparency. We test the acoustic window in vivo, via terminal and survival experiments on small animals. Long-term biocompatibility and lasting signal sensitivity are demonstrated over a long period of time (> 4 months) by conducting ultrasound imaging in mouse models implanted with the metamaterial skull prosthesis.
Keyphrases
- high resolution
- end stage renal disease
- mouse model
- chronic kidney disease
- ejection fraction
- magnetic resonance imaging
- endothelial cells
- newly diagnosed
- room temperature
- reduced graphene oxide
- peritoneal dialysis
- prognostic factors
- mass spectrometry
- cross sectional
- induced pluripotent stem cells
- computed tomography
- fluorescence imaging
- photodynamic therapy
- patient reported outcomes
- gold nanoparticles
- pluripotent stem cells