Biological effects of laser-induced stress waves

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:240871

Doukas, A; Lee, S; McAuliffe, D ^[1]

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1. Wellman Labs. of Photomedicine, Boston, MA (United States); and others

Laser-induced stress waves can be generated by one of the following mechanisms: Optical breakdown, ablation or rapid heating of an absorbing medium. These three modes of laser interaction with matter allow the investigation of cellular and tissue responses to stress waves with different characteristics and under different conditions. The most widely studied phenomena are those of the collateral damage seen in photodisruption in the eye and in 193 run ablation of cornea and skin. On the other hand, the therapeutic application of laser-induced stress waves has been limited to the disruption of noncellular material such as renal stones, atheromatous plaque and vitreous strands. The effects of stress waves to cells and tissues can be quite disparate. Stress waves can fracture tissue, damage cells, and increase the permeability of the plasma membrane. The viability of cell cultures exposed to stress waves increases with the peak stress and the number of pulses applied. The rise time of the stress wave also influences the degree of cell injury. In fact, cell viability, as measured by thymidine incorporation, correlates better with the stress gradient than peak stress. Recent studies have also established that stress waves induce a transient increase of the permeability of the plasma membrane in vitro. In addition, if the stress gradient is below the damage threshhold, the cells remain viable. Thus, stress waves can be useful as a means of drug delivery, increasing the intracellular drug concentration and allowing the use of drugs which are impermeable to the cell membrane. The present studies show that it is important to create controllable stress waves. The wavelength tunability and the micropulse structure of the free electron laser is ideal for generating stress waves with independently adjustable parameters, such as rise time, duration and peak stress.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
• OSTI ID: 240871
• Report Number(s): BNL--61982-Absts.; CONF-9508156--Absts.; ON: DE96002729
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
ANIMAL TISSUES
BIOLOGICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL STRESS
LASER RADIATION