neurology is the science fiction of today
Nov. 26th, 2002 03:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheLaser Used to Move Brain Cells in Lab Experiment
"In an advance that sounds like science fiction, scientists have used a laser beam to guide and control the growth of brain cells in the laboratory.
"This is not the first time that scientists have used lasers to manipulate human cells, but the new method has an important advantage, according to the lead investigator, Dr. Allen Ehrlicher, of the University of Leipzig in Germany. Unlike another laser technique called "optical tweezers," the approach used in the study, Ehrlicher told Reuters Health, moves cells without actually touching them.
"Moving cells often damages them, but the researchers found that cells manipulated using the new technique appeared to grow at a faster-than-normal pace while being stimulated to make up to 90-degree directional turns.
[...] "'We have shown experimentally that we can use weak optical forces to guide the direction taken by the leading edge, or growth cone, of a nerve cell,' Ehrlicher said. 'In actively extending growth cones, we place a laser spot in front of the nerve's leading edge, promoting growth into the beam focus.'
"This method 'allows us to guide neuronal turns as well as enhance growth,' he said."
"In an advance that sounds like science fiction, scientists have used a laser beam to guide and control the growth of brain cells in the laboratory.
"This is not the first time that scientists have used lasers to manipulate human cells, but the new method has an important advantage, according to the lead investigator, Dr. Allen Ehrlicher, of the University of Leipzig in Germany. Unlike another laser technique called "optical tweezers," the approach used in the study, Ehrlicher told Reuters Health, moves cells without actually touching them.
"Moving cells often damages them, but the researchers found that cells manipulated using the new technique appeared to grow at a faster-than-normal pace while being stimulated to make up to 90-degree directional turns.
[...] "'We have shown experimentally that we can use weak optical forces to guide the direction taken by the leading edge, or growth cone, of a nerve cell,' Ehrlicher said. 'In actively extending growth cones, we place a laser spot in front of the nerve's leading edge, promoting growth into the beam focus.'
"This method 'allows us to guide neuronal turns as well as enhance growth,' he said."