Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Department of
First Advisor
Ryan Pedrigi
Committee Members
Joseph Turner, Eric Markvicka
Date of this Version
11-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Citation
A thesis presented to the faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska, in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science
Major: Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics
Under the supervision of Professor Ryan Pedrigi
Lincoln, Nebraska, November 2024
Abstract
Over the past decades, it has been established that mechanical cues from the blood flow environment induce substantial effects on cell phenotype and initiate deadly diseases such as atherosclerosis. Ultrasound research has poised itself as a viable noninvasive therapeutic to induce the beneficial effects of blood flow. Our recent work demonstrated that ultrasound induces similar temporal endothelial expression effects as normal flow. This finding motivates the development of new modalities to further exploit ultrasounds noninvasive therapeutic capabilities. Little is known about which isolated characteristics of ultrasound induce the most beneficial endothelial cell expression. Herein, we address this issue by demonstrating that endothelial cells exposed to high pressure low duty cycle ultrasound exhibit increases in endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). This response is further shown to be independent of a stable acoustic field and isolates the acoustic pressure magnitude. Additionally, we show that by varying the central frequency and thus changing the acoustic patterning, this can positively or negatively affect endothelial cell expression. Lastly, we explore a new method for delivering ultrasound by developing a low-profile ultrasound device that has similar performance capabilities of traditional ultrasound transducers. This work improves the general understanding of isolated ultrasound parameters and there effects on endothelial cells, while also expanding the clinical application of therapeutic ultrasound.
Advisor: Ryan Pedrigi
Comments
Copyright 2024, Adam Robert Johnson. Used by permission