Femtosecond pulsed laser as a microscalpel for microdissection and isolation of specific sections from biological samples

Sakakura, Masaaki, Kajiyama, Shinichiro, Tsutsumi, Masafumi, Si, Jinhai, Fukusaki, Eiichiro, Tamaru, Yutaka, Akiyama, Shin-Ichi, Miura, Kiyotaka, Hirao, Kazuyuki and Ueda, Mitsuyoshi (2007) Femtosecond pulsed laser as a microscalpel for microdissection and isolation of specific sections from biological samples. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 46 (9A), 5859-5864. (doi:10.1143/JJAP.46.5859).

Abstract

The femtosecond laser is a candidate tool for dissecting and obtaining specific tissues or cells from biological samples. In this paper, we report on the dissection of flammable (heat-sensitive) plant tissues (Eucommia ulmoides stem) and that of a transparent zebrafish embryo placed in water. During laser dissection in the plant tissues, we observed that a low repetition rate of the irradiations is crucial for reducing the risk of thermal damage. During laser dissection of the zebrafish embryo, the laser-induced bubble formation at the tissue surface disturbed the laser-induced dissection. We concluded that the "interior laser dissection method", in which the dissection is performed by moving the laser spot inside a biological sample, is an efficient way to dissect a sample that is placed in water. In view of our findings, the advantages of fs laser dissection are discussed on the basis of the physical characteristics of fs laser machining.

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