Investigation on the interaction of small particles, e.g. gold nanoparticles with light is a current field of high interest. As light can be absorbed, enhanced or scattered by the nanoparticles a wide variety of possible applications become possible. If the electrons of such a nanoparticles oscillate with the incident light, plasmon resonances occur. Provided that these particles are brought very close to a cell, the cell membrane gets perforated due to the laser induced effect. We investigate nanoparticle mediated laser perforation as an alternative technique for cell transfection. By using weakly focussed femtosecond laser pulses, 150 nm gold particles were stimulated to perforate the cell membrane. Through the perforated area of the membrane macromolecules e.g. DNA are able to enter the cell. By this technique GFSHR-17 rat cells were successfully transfected with GFP vector and the dependence on laser parameters and concentration were studied. Even after 48 hours after manipulation the transfected cells show no indications of apoptosis or necrosis. This technique allows the transfection of cells by opto-perforation without the need of tight focusing conditions and single cell targeting- opening the way for a wide field of applications.

Date Published: 18 February 2009
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 7192, Plasmonics in Biology and Medicine VI, 71920U (18 February 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.809316

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7192:
Plasmonics in Biology and Medicine VI
Tuan Vo-Dinh; Joseph R. Lakowicz, Editor(s)