Nanosurgery of sub-cellular organelles in living cells using a femtosecond laser oscillator

Abstract

Femtosecond laser pulses in the near-infrared region have potential applications in nanosurgery in cell biology. Femtosecond laser pulses can be used to selectively disrupt and dissect intracellular organelles in living cells. We report on disruption of fluorescence-labeled nucleus and mitochondria in living HeLa cells using a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser oscillator with a repetition rate of 76 MHz. We examined the effectiveness of the restaining method in combination with fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) analysis to discern disruption or bleaching.