Various in vitro effects of continuous and modulated ultrasound on blood cells of different animal species

Abstract

The behavior of blood cells of different animal species in an ultrasonic field was investigated. The ranges of modulation frequencies that caused irreversible changes were revealed. The following cytomorphological effects of ultrasound (a carrier frequency of 880 kHz and 2.64 MHz, a modulation range from 10 to 1000 Hz) on red blood cells were detected: a change in the shape, the formation of symmetric groups around the cell and chains of red blood cell without cytolysis, and the occurrence of ghost cells. Changes in the leukograms did not always depend on the animal species under an equal-energy impact. White blood cells changed before red blood cells, 12–20 s after insonation at active frequencies. The effect on granulocytes, which led to the damage of the cytoplasmic membrane and then of the whole cell, was observed earlier than that on agranulocytes. In small lymphocytes degenerative changes were recorded significantly later, after 50–90 s. All the animal species had similar effects within an intensity range of 0.2–0.7 W/cm² and at modulation frequency of 10–100 Hz: leukopenia, cytolysis, destruction and aggregation of cells, foaming of the cytoplasm of granulocytes, rupture of the cytoplasmic membrane, bursting of nuclei (general), their deformation, and disturbance of their borders.