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Coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2, may be vulnerable to ultrasound vibrations, inside the frequencies used in medical diagnostic imaging, according to a study that utilized computer simulations.
They found that vibrations between 25 and 100 megahertz triggered the virus shell and spikes to fall and start to rupture within 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 both air and in water.
The team stated that its findings are a first hint at a possible ultrasound-based treatment for coronaviruses, including the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
“We have proven that under ultrasound excitation that the coronavirus shell and spikes will vibrate, and the amplitude of that vibration will be very large, producing strains that could break certain areas of the virus, doing visible damage to the outer shell and possibly invisible damage to the RNA inside,” said Tomasz Wierzbicki, professor of applied mechanics at MIT.
“The expectation is that our paper will initiate a conversation across various disciplines,” Wierzbicki said.
The researchers noted that the preliminary results are based on limited data regarding the virus physical properties.
They said that it remains to be researched how exactly ultrasound could be administered, and how effective it would be in damaging the virus within the complexity of the human body.
In their analysis, the researchers introduced acoustic vibrations into the simulations and observed the way the vibrations rippled throughout the coronavirus structure across a selection of ultrasound frequencies.
They started with vibrations of 100 megahertz, or 100 million cycles per second, which they estimated would be the shell’s natural vibrating frequency, based on what is known of the virus physical properties.
When the researchers exposed the virus to 100 MHz ultrasound excitations, the virus natural vibrations were initially undetectable.
But within a fraction of a millisecond the external vibrations, resonating with the frequency of this virus natural oscillations, caused the spikes and shell to buckle inward, somewhat like a ball that dimples because it bounces off the ground.
Since the researchers increased the amplitude, or intensity, of the vibrations, the shell could fracture — an acoustic phenomenon known as resonance that also explains how opera singers could crack a wineglass should they sing in just the correct pitch and volume.
At lower frequencies of 25 MHz and 50 MHz, the virus buckled and fractured even faster, both in simulated environments of air, and of water that is similar in density to fluids in the body, they said.
“These frequencies and intensities are within the scope that is safely used for medical imaging,” Wierzbicki added.
