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Optical transfection
open-in-new
<p>Optical transfection is a biomedical technique that entails introducing nucleic acids (i.e. <a href="/facts/Genetics/bu8wne0A">genetic</a> material such as <a href="/facts/DNA/nB89Iauz">DNA</a>) into cells using light. All cells are surrounded by a <a href="/facts/Plasma_membrane/vAXSD0DT">plasma membrane</a>, which prevents many substances from entering or exiting the cell. Lasers can be used to burn a tiny hole in this membrane, allowing substances to enter. This is tremendously useful to biologists who are studying disease, as a common experimental requirement is to put things (such as DNA) into cells. </p><p>Typically, a laser is focussed to a diffraction limited spot (~<a href="/facts/Micron/7eDFxD2L">1 μm</a> diameter) using a high <a href="/facts/Numerical_aperture/EvW1oVBC">numerical aperture</a> microscope objective. The plasma membrane of a cell is then exposed to this highly focussed light for a small amount of time (typically tens of milliseconds to seconds), generating a transient pore on the membrane. The generation of a photopore[<i>check spelling</i>] allows exogenous <a href="/facts/DNA_supercoil/vFTgbyNT">plasmid DNA</a>, <a href="/facts/RNA/HxPeNfNj">RNA</a>, organic <a href="/facts/Fluorophore/wDWBmYhn">fluorophores</a>, or larger objects such as semiconductor <a href="/facts/Quantum_dot/K5Ytv8Yw">quantum nanodots</a> to enter the cell. In this technique, one cell at a time is treated, making it particularly useful for single cell analysis. </p><p>This technique was first demonstrated in 1984 by Tsukakoshi et al., who used a frequency tripled Nd:YAG to generate stable and transient <a href="/facts/Transfection/R94fLSQF">transfection</a> of normal rat kidney cells. Since this time, the optical transfection of a host of mammalian cell types has been demonstrated using a variety of laser sources, including the 405 nm continuous wave (cw), 488 nm cw, or <a href="/facts/Modelocking/7p9MjBjT">pulsed</a> sources such as the 800 nm femtosecond pulsed Ti:Sapphire or 1064 nm nanosecond pulsed Nd:YAG. </p>