Researcher: Jeehyun Lee
Muscle mechanical properties change with neuromuscular disease and with repair after injury, from minor strain to volumetric muscle loss. To quantify these changes in vivo, we use ultrasound shear-wave elastography (SWE), in which brief acoustic radiation forces generate shear waves that are tracked in space and time. From these data we compute shear wave speed (a stiffness-sensitive metric), frequency-dependent dispersion (viscoelastic behavior), and propagation features derived from displacement waveforms. Measurements are acquired over large fields of view and repeated longitudinally, yielding regional maps and time courses of muscle mechanics in living mouse models.
Current work spans diaphragm disease-course imaging in the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) mouse model and limb-muscle regeneration after cryoinjury and volumetric muscle loss (VML), under untreated and treated conditions. By integrating B-mode imaging, shear wave speed mapping, displacement-waveform analysis, and phase/group-velocity dispersion, we aim to derive candidate quantitative endpoints for baseline characterization, longitudinal trajectories of degeneration or repair, and treatment effects, toward translation beyond preclinical studies.
