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ShareScienceDaily (May 28, 2008) — The world's first optical pacemaker has been devised. A team of scientists at Osaka University in Japan show that powerful, but very short, laser pulses can help control the beating of heart muscle cells.
"If you put a large amount of laser power through these cells over a very short time period, you get a huge response," says Nicholas Smith, who led the research. The laser pulses cause the release of calcium ions within the cells, Smith explains, and this action forces the cells to contract.
This technique provides a tool for controlling heart muscle cells in the laboratory, a breakthrough that may help scientists better understand the mechanism of heart muscle contraction.
One potential application of this technology is in studying uncoordinated contractions in heart muscle. Normally, heart muscle contracts in a highly coordinated fashion, and this is what allows the heart to pump blood through the vasculature. But in some people, this coordinated beating breaks down, and the heart twitches irregularly--a condition known as fibrillation.
The new laser technique may allow scientists to create a form of fibrillation in the test tube. The lasers can destabilize the beating of the cells in laboratory experiments by introducing a beat frequency in one target cell distinct from the surrounding cells. This would allow scientists to study irregular heart beats on a cellular level and screen anti-fibrillation drugs.
Outside the laboratory, exposing heart muscle cells to powerful laser pulses can have its drawbacks. Although the laser pulses last for less than a trillionth of a second, damaging effects can build up over time and this currently limits the possibility of clinical applications.
This work was supported by the Japan Science and Technology organization.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Optical Society of America, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- N.I. Smith et al. A Femtosecond Laser Pacemaker for Heart Muscle Cells. Optics Express, 2008
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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