Ultrasonic characterization of aging in skin tissue

The propagation velocity (c) and attenuation coefficient () of ultrasound were measured at room temperature in skin tissues excised from twenty aged (27 months) and eight young (2 months) Bar Harbor strain female mice. Frequencies used were 2.25, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 MHz. Both velocity and attenuation data were obtained using a pulse-echo technique. Transit times were measured with a universal counter timer to 10 nsec resolution, and corrected for the “dead time” due to the transducer matching layer.

Aged skin had significantly lower values of c and at all frequencies than did the corresponding young tissues.

This preliminary study suggests that the tissue changes which collectively constitute aging may, in some instances, be predictably associated with measurable changes in the acoustic properties of those tissues.