Fig. 1

Schematic of the acoustofluidic transwell (AFT). A The AFT provides acoustic stimulation to the human brain microvascular endothelial cells (hBMECs) seeded on the transwell insert. The acoustic stimulation is produced by the surface acoustic wave (SAW) formed on the LiNbO₃ wafer. The SAW is generated by using a printed-circuit board (PCB) based technique to configure the interdigital transducer (IDT). B The hBMECs are seeded on the transwell porous membrane forming luminal and abluminal compartments. The SAW exerts acoustic stimulation to the hBMECs to disrupt the tight junctions, which results in a decrease in the transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) and increase in the transendothelial permeability. C The AFT is considered as a two-port network, as the two IDTs are constructed by pressing two PCB with finger electrodes onto the LiNbO₃ wafer