Ultrasound has the potential to fight novel coronaviruses: study

Coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, can be vulnerable to ultrasonic vibrations, at frequencies used in medical diagnostic imaging, according to a study that used computer simulations.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States have modeled the mechanical response of coronaviruses to vibration over a range of ultrasonic frequencies.

They found that vibrations between 25 and 100 megahertz triggered the collapse of the shell and spikes of the virus and began to rupture in a fraction of a millisecond.

The finding, published in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, shows this effect in simulations of the virus in air and water.

The team said their findings were a first clue to a possible ultrasound treatment for coronaviruses, including the new SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19.

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“We have proven that under ultrasonic excitation, the shell and tips of the coronavirus will vibrate, and the amplitude of this vibration will be very large, producing strains that could break up parts of the virus, causing visible damage to the outer shell and eventually invisible damage to the RNA inside, ”said Tomasz Wierzbicki, professor of applied mechanics at MIT.

“The hope is that our article will initiate a discussion in various disciplines,” said Wierzbicki.

The researchers noted that the preliminary results are based on limited data regarding the physical properties of the virus.

They said it remains to be studied how exactly the ultrasound could be administered and how effective it would be in damaging the virus in the complexity of the human body.

In their study, the researchers introduced acoustic vibrations into the simulations and observed how the vibrations rippled through the structure of the coronavirus over a range of ultrasonic frequencies.

They started with vibrations of 100 megahertz, or 100 million cycles per second, which they estimated to be the shell’s natural vibrating frequency, based on what is known about the physical properties of the virus.

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When the researchers exposed the virus to 100 MHz ultrasonic excitations, the virus’s natural vibrations were initially undetectable.

However, in a fraction of a millisecond, the external vibrations, resonating with the frequency of the virus’s natural oscillations, caused the shell and spikes to deform inward, like a dimpled bullet as it bounced off the ground.

As the researchers increased the amplitude or intensity of the vibrations, the shell could fracture – an acoustic phenomenon known as resonance which also explains how opera singers can break a wine glass s ‘they sing just at the right pitch and volume.

At frequencies lower than 25 MHz and 50 MHz, the virus warped and fractured even faster, both in simulated environments of air and water similar in density to fluids in the body. body, they said.

“These frequencies and intensities are within the range that is used safely for medical imaging,” Wierzbicki added.