Premium
Photothermal activation of astrocyte cells using localized surface plasmon resonance of gold nanorods
Author(s) -
Eom Kyungsik,
Hwang Seoyoung,
Yun Seunghyeon,
Byun Kyung Min,
Jun Sang Beom,
Kim Sung June
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of biophotonics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.877
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1864-0648
pISSN - 1864-063X
DOI - 10.1002/jbio.201600280
Subject(s) - photothermal therapy , astrocyte , intracellular , nanorod , stimulation , biophysics , surface plasmon resonance , photothermal effect , plasmon , chemistry , materials science , nanotechnology , microbiology and biotechnology , neuroscience , optoelectronics , biology , central nervous system , nanoparticle
Although it has been revealed that astrocytes, generally known as star‐shaped glial cells, play critical roles in the functions of central nervous system, there have been few efforts to directly modulate their activities and responses. In this study, an optical stimulation strategy for producing intracellular Ca 2+ transients of astrocytes is demonstrated using near‐infrared (NIR) light and localized surface plasmon resonance. It is presented that NIR stimulation of micro‐second duration combined with gold nanorods (GNRs) efficiently produces stronger Ca 2+ transients of astrocytes, which seems to be associated with a local heat generation by photothermal effects of GNRs. Since the proposed scheme can directly activate astrocytes with a high reliability, it is expected that GNR‐mediated NIR stimulation could be utilized to facilitate minimally invasive physiological studies on the astrocyte functions.Photos of intracellular Ca 2+ transient of astrocytes with membrane‐bound GNRs after optical stimulation at 30 s.