Ultrasounds like those used to monitor a fetus’ growth can destroy coronavirus cells by splitting and imploding their surfaces, new research suggests.
MIT researchers performed a mathematical analysis based on the physical properties of generic coronavirus cells.
It revealed that medical ultrasounds can damage the shell and spikes of the virus, leading to collapse and rupture.
Ultrasounds are 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, the nascent process of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. A computer study showed that ultrasonic waves between 25 MHz and 100 MHz are enough to cause the cell to collapse
Computer simulations created a model of a common coronavirus, the family that includes Covid-19, influenza and HIV.
They found that between 25 and 100 MHz, the coronavirus cell surface disintegrates and collapses in less than a millisecond.
At 100 MHz, the computer model revealed that the virus’ shell is collapsing because it resonates with the membrane’s natural vibrational frequency.
This is a phenomenon that occurs when a specific wave frequency matches the inherent properties of a material, continuously amplifying the vibrations.
The oddity of physics is the same mechanism that enables opera singers to smash wine glasses and is also a problem for bridge builders.
If the frequency of wind or footsteps matches the bridge’s natural properties, it wobbles out of control.
This is exactly what happened in the year 2000 when the Millenium Bridge in London opened and people’s footsteps caused it to swing significantly.
This happened at two MHz, but for the virus, the 100 MHz waves caused resonance. Within a fraction of a second, the surface of the model virus warped and shrank.
The process was accelerated even further at 25 and 50 MHz.
“These frequencies and intensities are within the range that is safely used for medical imaging,” said Tomasz Wierzbicki, a professor of applied mechanics at MIT and lead author of the study.
The scientists say the results are based on patchy data of the virus’s physical properties and should be interpreted with caution.
However, it opens the possibility that coronavirus infections, including Covid-19, could one day be treated with ultrasound.
There are several issues surrounding the feasibility of such a therapeutic technique.
One problem with using ultrasounds to fight Covid is how the technique – which is normally applied to a specific part of the body to perform a scan (photo) – would detect the virus in a person’s body. attacks, as it can spread to a wide variety of tissues. including the lungs, brain, and nose
One problem is how the technique, which is normally applied to a specific part of the body to perform a scan, would attack the virus in a person’s body as it can spread to many tissues. including the lungs, brain and nose.
But the MIT engineers say their study is the first-ever find within a new avenue of research and more studies are needed to verify its long-term viability as a treatment.
‘We have proven that under ultrasound excitation, the coronavirus envelope and spikes will vibrate, and the amplitude of that vibration will be very large, creating stresses that can break certain parts of the virus, causing visible damage to the outer shell and potentially invisible damage. to the RNA inside, ”says professor Wierzbicki.
‘The hope is that our paper will spark a discussion across different disciplines.’
The full findings are available in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids.
The researchers began 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 strength and flexibility has been gathered from previous studies and microscopic analysis.
It revealed that the virus has a smooth shell – or envelope – that contains its genetic material. The shell is laced with protruding proteins that resemble spikes, giving it the crown-like appearance that led to the nickname ‘coronavirus’.
This information was fed into a machine to model how the structure would behave under different conditions.
“We don’t know the material properties of the spikes because they are so small – about 10 nanometers high,” says Wierzbicki.
‘Even more unknown is what is in the virus, which is not empty but filled with RNA, which itself is surrounded by a protein capsid shell. This modeling thus requires many assumptions. We are confident that this elastic model is a good starting point. ‘