Optical and atomic force microscopic studies on sonoporation

Optical and atomic force microscopies were used for investigating morphological changes of Jurkat lymphocytes, which showed sonoporation after being exposed to a vibrating Mason horn tuned to 21.4 kHz for 2 min. The tip of the Mason horn had a diameter of 400 mum and its transverse vibration amplitude was 7.8 mum. It was found that immediately after sonification, some cells became irregular in shape but still more or less maintained their sizes, and other cells appeared to be much smaller than their normal sizes. (C) 2002 Acoustical Society of America.