AUTHOR=Zhang Kaiwen , Zhu Min , Thomas Evan , Hopyan Sevan , Sun Yu TITLE=Existing and Potential Applications of Elastography for Measuring the Viscoelasticity of Biological Tissues In Vivo JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physics VOLUME=9 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2021.670571 DOI=10.3389/fphy.2021.670571 ISSN=2296-424X ABSTRACT=

Mechanical tissue properties contribute to tissue shape change during development. Emerging evidence suggests that gradients of viscoelasticity correspond to cell movement and gene expression patterns. To accurately define mechanisms of morphogenesis, a combination of precise empirical measurements and theoretical approaches are required. Here, we review elastography as a method to characterize viscoelastic properties of tissue in vivo. We discuss its current clinical applications in mature tissues and its potential for characterizing embryonic tissues.