The waves that make the pattern: a review on acoustic manipulation in biomedical research

Abstract

Novel approaches, combining technology, biomaterial design, and cutting-edge cell culture, have been increasingly considered to advance the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Within this context, acoustic manipulation to remotely control spatial cellular organization within a carrier matrix has arisen as a particularly promising method during the last decade. Acoustic or sound-induced manipulation takes advantage of hydrodynamic forces exerted on systems of particles within a liquid medium by standing waves. Inorganic or organic particles, cells, or organoids assemble within the nodes of the standing wave, creating distinct patterns in response to the applied frequency and amplitude. Acoustic manipulation has advanced from micro- or nanoparticle arrangement in 2D to the assembly of multiple cell types or organoids into highly complex in vitro tissues. In this review, we discuss the past research achievements in the field of acoustic manipulation with particular emphasis on biomedical application. We survey microfluidic, open chamber, and high throughput devices for their applicability to arrange non-living and living units in buffer or hydrogels. We also investigate the challenges arising from different methods, and their prospects to gain a deeper understanding of in vitro tissue formation and application in the field of biomedical engineering.

Recent Advances in Field‐Controlled Micro–Nano Manipulations and Micro–Nano Robots

“…The response speed is fast, and it has great development prospects in the field of medical testing and diagnosis. [129,144] Optical drive: use the light pressure of the optical trap where the laser is focused to control the motion of micro-nano-scale objects, which can be modulated into complex patterns in time and space, with greater degrees of freedom. It has a large application space in the field of eye treatment.…”

Cardiac Organoids and Gastruloids to Study Physio-Pathological Heart Development

“…This is a very appealing new technology that could circumvent many of the drawbacks of 3D printing. Indeed, using acoustic surface standing waves that position cells or organoids at static pressure nodes, it is possible to quickly and spatially orchestrate patterning of different cell types or organoids in space within a hydrogel (reviewed in [50][51][52]). It enabled the engineering of aligned muscle tissue constructs using myoblasts embedded in type I collagen hydrogels [53].…”

Cascade reaction networks within audible sound induced transient domains in a solution

“…Nevertheless, utilizing audible sound (in the range of 20–20,000 Hz) to control any molecular or supramolecular events and synthesis is still in its infancy, most likely due to its low intensity, which is unable to induce chemical transformations 33 . However, it has been long known that vertical shaking of a liquid-filled dish using audible sound (or a vibration generator) can generate a standing wave pattern on the liquid surface (Faraday instability), and the patterns change significantly depending on the frequency of the applied sound and the shape of the dish 34 – 38 . Based on this phenomenon, very recently we have developed a facile strategy that utilizes audible sound to control the spatiotemporal distribution of chemical components in out-of-equilibrium systems resulting in the formation of predictable chemical patterns 39 .…”