Optical and acoustical monitoring of femtosecond laser-induced intracellular contrast agents: initial cell culture studies

Acoustical monitoring of laser-induced optical breakdown can be used as an important tool for diagnostics and therapeutics in living cells. Laser-induced intracellular microbubbles provide measurable contrast when detected with high-frequency ultrasound, and the bioeffects of these bubbles can be controlled to be within two distinct regimes. In the nondestructive regime, a single, transient, detectable bubble can be generated within a cell, without affecting its viability. In the destructive regime, the induced photodisruption can kill a target cell. To generate and monitor this range of effects in real time, we have developed a system integrating a femtosecond pulsed laser source with optical and acoustical microscopy. Experiments were performed on monolayers of Chinese hamster ovary cells. A Ti:Sapphire laser (793 nm wavelength, 100 fs pulse duration) was pulsed at 3.8 kHz and tightly focused to a 1 μm spot within each cell, and a high-frequency (50 MHz) ultrasonic transducer monitored the generated bubble with continuous pulse-echo recordings. The photodisruption was also observed with bright field optical microscopy, and cell viability was assessed after laser exposure using a colorimetric live/dead stain. By controlling laser pulse fluence, exposure duration, and the intracellular location of the laser focus, either nondestructive or destructive bubbles could be generated.