Ultrasound scans, such as those used to track the growth of a fetus, can destroy coronavirus cells by forcing their surface to separate and implode, new research suggests.
MIT researchers performed a mathematical analysis based on the physical properties of generic coronavirus cells.
He revealed that medical ultrasounds can damage the shell and tips of the virus, leading to collapse and rupture.
Ultrasound is already being used as a treatment for kidney stones, but the MIT team is calling for further research into its viability as a treatment for Covid-19.
Pictured is the budding process of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19. A computer study found that ultrasound waves between 25MHz and 100MHz are enough to cause the cell to collapse.
Computer simulations created a model of general coronavirus, the family that includes Covid-19, influenza and HIV.
They found that between 25 and 100 MHz, the coronavirus’s cell surface split and collapsed in less than a millisecond.
At 100 MHz, the computer model revealed the fall of the virus collapses because it resonates with the natural frequency of vibration of the membrane.
This is a phenomenon that occurs when a specific wave frequency aligns with the inherent properties of a material, continuously amplifying vibrations.
The strangeness of physics is the same mechanism that allows opera singers to break glasses of wine and is also a problem for bridge builders.
If the frequency of the wind or the steps aligns with the natural properties of the bridge, it shakes without control.
This is exactly what happened in 2000, when the Millennium Bridge in London was opened and people’s footsteps made it sway significantly.
This occurred at two MHz, but for the virus, the 100 MHz waves resonated. In a split second, the surface of the model virus was distorted and bent.
At 25 and 50 MHz, the process was further accelerated.
“These frequencies and intensities are in the field used safely for medical imaging,” says Tomasz Wierzbicki, a professor of applied mechanics at MIT and lead author of the study.
Scientists say the results are based on uneven data on the physical properties of the virus and should be interpreted with caution.
However, it opens the possibility that coronavirus infections, including Covid-19, can be treated one day by ultrasound.
Several problems surround the feasibility of such a therapeutic technique.
One problem with using ultrasound to fight Covid is how the technique – which is normally applied to a certain area of the body to perform a scan (pictured) – would target the virus in a person’s body because it can spread. in a large number of tissues. , including the lungs, brain and nose
One problem is how the technique, which is normally applied to a certain area of the body to perform a scan, would target the virus in a person’s body because it can spread to a large number of tissues, including the lungs, brain. and nose.
But MIT engineers say their study is the first discovery ever in a new avenue of research, and more studies are needed to verify its long-term viability as a treatment.
“We have shown that under ultrasound excitation, the shell and tips of the coronavirus will vibrate, and the amplitude of that vibration will be very high, producing strains that could rupture certain parts of the virus, visibly affecting the outer shell and possibly invisible damage. to the RNA inside, ‘says Professor Wierzbicki.
“The hope is that our work will initiate a discussion between various disciplines.”
The complete findings are available in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids.
Researchers have begun to study the virus from the point of view of its structural integrity and not from a biological perspective.
All materials have a specific set of properties and will fail under certain conditions.
Information on its strength and flexibility was collected from previous studies and microscopic analyzes.
He revealed that the virus has a smooth shell – or envelope – that contains its genetic material. The shell is peppered with prominent proteins that look like spikes, giving it the appearance of a crown that led to the name “coronavirus”.
This information was entered into a machine to model how the structure would behave in different circumstances.
“We do not know the material properties of the tips, because they are so small – with a height of about 10 nanometers,” says Wierzbicki.
“Even more unknown is what the virus contains, which is not empty, but is filled with RNA, which in itself is surrounded by a protein capsid shell. So this modeling requires a lot of assumptions. We are confident that this elastic model is a good starting point. ‘