Liu Yuan, Yuan Baohong
Department of Bioengineering, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA ; Joint Biomedical Engineering Program, The University of Texas at Arlington and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
Biomed Opt Express. 2013 Aug 8;4(9):1559-70. doi: 10.1364/BOE.4.001559. eCollection 2013.
As contrast agents, microbubbles have been playing significant roles in ultrasound imaging. Investigation of microbubble oscillation is crucial for microbubble characterization and detection. Unfortunately, 3-dimensional (3D) observation of microbubble oscillation is challenging and costly because of the bubble size-a few microns in diameter-and the high-speed dynamics under MHz ultrasound pressure waves. In this study, a cost-efficient optical confocal microscopic system combined with a gated and intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera were developed to detect 3D microbubble oscillation. The capability of imaging microbubble high-speed oscillation with much lower costs than with an ultra-fast framing or streak camera system was demonstrated. In addition, microbubble oscillations along both lateral (x and y) and axial (z) directions were demonstrated. Accordingly, this system is an excellent alternative for 3D investigation of microbubble high-speed oscillation, especially when budgets are limited.
作为造影剂，微泡在超声成像中一直发挥着重要作用。微泡振荡的研究对于微泡表征和检测至关重要。不幸的是，由于微泡直径只有几微米，且在兆赫兹超声压力波下具有高速动态特性，对微泡振荡进行三维（3D）观察具有挑战性且成本高昂。在本研究中，开发了一种经济高效的光学共聚焦显微镜系统，该系统结合了门控增强型电荷耦合器件（ICCD）相机，用于检测3D微泡振荡。结果表明，该系统能够以比超高速帧相机或条纹相机系统低得多的成本对微泡高速振荡进行成像。此外，还展示了微泡在横向（x和y）和轴向（z）方向上的振荡。因此，该系统是对微泡高速振荡进行3D研究的极佳选择，尤其是在预算有限的情况下。
