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- Title
Application of Ultrashort Lasers in Developmental Biology: A Review.
- Authors
Ilina, Inna V.; Sitnikov, Dmitry S.
- Abstract
The evolution of laser technologies and the invention of ultrashort laser pulses have resulted in a sharp jump in laser applications in life sciences. Developmental biology is no exception. The unique ability of ultrashort laser pulses to deposit energy into a microscopic volume in the bulk of transparent material without disrupting the surrounding tissues makes ultrashort lasers a versatile tool for precise microsurgery of cells and subcellular components within structurally complex and fragile specimens like embryos as well as for high-resolution imaging of embryonic processes and developmental mechanisms. Here, we present an overview of recent applications of ultrashort lasers in developmental biology, including techniques of noncontact laser-assisted microsurgery of preimplantation mammalian embryos for oocyte/blastomere enucleation and embryonic cell fusion, as well as techniques of optical transfection and injection for targeted delivery of biomolecules into living embryos and laser-mediated microsurgery of externally developing embryos. Possible applications of ultrashort laser pulses for use in Assisted Reproductive Technologies are also highlighted. Moreover, we discuss various nonlinear optical microscopy techniques (two-photon excited fluorescence, second and third harmonic generation, and coherent Raman scattering) and their application for label-free non-invasive imaging of embryos in their unperturbed state or post-laser-induced modifications.
- Subjects
DEVELOPMENTAL biology; ULTRA-short pulsed lasers; NONLINEAR optical techniques; ULTRASHORT laser pulses; THIRD harmonic generation; LASERS; SECOND harmonic generation
- Publication
Photonics, 2022, Vol 9, Issue 12, p914
- ISSN
2304-6732
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/photonics9120914