University of St. Andrews, School of Physics & Astronomy, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9SS United Kingdom.
J Biomed Opt. 2011 Feb;16(2):028002. doi: 10.1117/1.3541781.
Optical transfection is a powerful method for targeted delivery of therapeutic agents to biological cells. A tightly focused pulsed laser beam may transiently change the permeability of a cell membrane to facilitate the delivery of foreign genetic material into cells. We report the first realization of an endoscope-like integrated system for optical transfection. An imaging fiber (coherent optical fiber bundle) with ∼ 6000 cores (pixels) embedded in a fiber cladding of ∼ 300 μm in diameter, produces an image circle (area) of ∼ 270 μm diam. This imaging fiber, with an ordered axicon lens array chemically etched at its exit face, is used for the delivery of a femtosecond laser to the cell membrane for optical transfection along with subcellular resolution imaging. A microcapillary-based microfluidic system for localized drug delivery was also combined in this miniature, flexible system. Using this novel system, a plasmid transfection efficiency up to ∼ 72% was obtained for CHO-K1 cells. This endoscope-like system opens a range of exciting applications, in particular, in the targeted in vivo optical microsurgery area.
光学转染是一种将治疗剂靶向递送至生物细胞的强大方法。聚焦紧密的脉冲激光束可以瞬时改变细胞膜的通透性，从而促进外源遗传物质进入细胞。我们报告了首例内窥镜样集成光学转染系统的实现。一种带有约 6000 个纤芯（像素）的成像光纤（相干光纤束）嵌入在直径约 300μm 的光纤包层中，可产生约 270μm 直径的像圈（区域）。这种带有在其出射面化学刻蚀的有序轴棱锥透镜阵列的成像光纤，用于将飞秒激光传递到细胞膜，以进行光转染和亚细胞分辨率成像。一个基于微流控毛细管的局部药物输送微流控系统也被集成在这个微型、灵活的系统中。使用这个新系统，CHO-K1 细胞的质粒转染效率高达约 72%。这种内窥镜样系统开辟了一系列令人兴奋的应用领域，特别是在靶向的活体光学微创手术领域。
