Dynamics of Microtubules Disruption and Rearrangement in the Sonoporated Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells

The aim of this study was to investigate the response of microtubule cytoskeleton of cells to the perforated membrane by acoustic cavitation. The changes of microtubule at subcellular level were observed in real time using an experimental platform of 1.5 MHz ultrasound exposure (13.33 μs duration and 0.70 MPa peak negative pressure). HUVEC cells exhibited different degrees of cell membrane perforation under acoustic cavitation. Our results show that: 1) After acoustic perforation, tubulin simultaneously depolymerizes with cell membrane rupture. 2) In the case of small membrane damage, tubulin could be rapidly repaired with cell membrane repair. 3) In the case of large membrane damage, tubulin could be repaired far behind the membrane repair. 4) After chelating extracellular calcium ions, the cell membrane and tubulin could not be repaired. These results provide clues for exploring the mechanism of cell membrane repair by ultrasound cavitation.