Effects of ultrasound exposure to cells cultured on nitinol in a PDMS subtrate

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are one of the most serious health problems in the world. Especially atherosclerosis has a great in uence on a heart attack. As a remedy, vascular stents are frequently used to prevent restenosis. It is very crucial to prohibit the smooth muscle cells growth not to generate any thrombus formation and to achieve endothelization on the stent surface. Therefore, some innovative, user-friendly, and non-invasive treatment methods such as ultrasound can be applied to the target tissue during and after the implantation surgery. In this thesis, L929 mouse broblast cells and MCF-7 (Michigan Cancer Foundation-7) human breast cancer cells have been chosen to evaluate the ultrasound e ect. While ultrasound exposure has been utilized to observe the cellular viability of broblast cells, it has been applied to breast cancer cells to bring cell proliferation under control and/or see cell necrosis. Since ultrasound has provided both the endothelization and preventing the smooth muscle cell generation leading to vessel occlusion, this in-vitro study can be the representative solution for instent restenosis regarding the impact of ultrasound for both cells generation and/or cell necrosis. Also, these cell lines have been cultured on Nitinol (NiTi) surfaces placed into the PDMS substrates to represent the NiTi-based stent in the vessel structure. Based on our results, the highest viability of broblast cells was detected at low intensities; 0.2 W/cm2, 1 MHz, and 0.2 W/cm2, 3 MHz. Moreover, for MCF-7 cells, there has been no statistically signi cant di erence in cell proliferation following ultrasound exposure. Therefore, it can be claimed that ultrasound treatment can aid to control cancer cell generation on NiTi surfaces. Consequently, it might be a prospective and promising study to explore the in uence of ultrasound on both endothelization and to prohibit any obstruction in the vessel, which causes atherosclerosis.