Killing of Drosophila larvae by the fields of an electrohydraulic lithotripter.

Drosophila larvae contain small gas bodies stabilized within their respiratory system. Because these bubbles are inhibited in their capacity to expand by the surrounding tissues, it is probable that they do not respond to acoustic fields in the manner described by classical cavitation theory that assumes a spherical bubble in an infinite fluid. However, just because of this inhibited expansion, they may serve as reasonable models for the gas bodies in mammalian tissues. Approximately one half of a population of Drosophila larvae is killed by exposure to 3 to 10 double lithotripter shocks with a positive pressure of 2-3 MPa. In contrast with the predictions of classical cavitation theory, adding a negative pressure to the exposure has little influence on the killing rate or its threshold pressure. The available evidence suggests that interaction of gas bodies in tissues with pressure fields and the resultant biological effects may be qualitatively different than predicted by classical cavitation theory and that positive rather than negative pressure may be a predictor of these effects.