New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University, Federated Department of Biological Sciences and New Jersey Institute of Technology, Institute of Brain Research and Neuroscience, 100 Summit St, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA.
Northeastern University, Department of Bioengineering, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
Sci Rep. 2020 Mar 11;10(1):4545. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-61479-0.
Laser microsurgery is a powerful tool for neurobiology, used to ablate cells and sever neurites in-vivo. We compare a relatively new laser source to two well-established designs. Rare-earth-doped mode-locked fibre lasers that produce high power pulses recently gained popularity for industrial uses. Such systems are manufactured to high standards of robustness and low maintenance requirements typical of solid-state lasers. We demonstrate that an Ytterbium-doped fibre femtosecond laser is comparable in precision to a Ti:Sapphire femtosecond laser (1-2 micrometres), but with added operational reliability. Due to the lower pulse energy required to ablate, it is more precise than a solid-state nanosecond laser. Due to reduced scattering of near infrared light, it can lesion deeper (more than 100 micrometres) in tissue. These advantages are not specific to the model system ablated for our demonstration, namely neurites in the nematode C. elegans, but are applicable to other systems and transparent tissue where a precise micron-resolution dissection is required.
激光微创手术是神经生物学的有力工具，用于在体内消融细胞和切断神经突。我们将一种相对较新的激光源与两种成熟的设计进行了比较。掺稀土锁模光纤激光器因其可产生高功率脉冲而在工业用途中得到了广泛应用。此类系统的制造符合工业标准，具有高可靠性和低维护要求，这是固态激光器的典型特点。我们证明，掺镱光纤飞秒激光器与钛宝石飞秒激光器（1-2 微米）相比，在精度上相当，但具有更高的运行可靠性。由于消融所需的脉冲能量较低，因此比固态纳秒激光器更精确。由于近红外光散射减少，它可以在组织中更深地（超过 100 微米）造成损伤。这些优势不仅限于我们演示中所使用的模型系统，即线虫 C. elegans 中的神经突，而且适用于其他系统和需要精确微米分辨率切割的透明组织。
