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Updated: Mar 8, 2026
Gold Nanorod-assisted Optical Stimulation of Neuronal Cells
Published on: April 27, 2015
Modulation of cardiomyocyte activity using pulsed laser irradiated gold nanoparticles
Lara Gentemann1, Stefan Kalies2, Michelle Coffee3
1Biomedical Optics Department, Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V., Hollerithallee 8, 30419 Hannover, Germany; Lower Saxony Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Implant Research and Development, Stadtfelddamm 34, 30625 Hannover, Germany; These authors contributed equally to this publication and should be considered co-first authors.
Abstract:
Can photothermal gold nanoparticle mediated laser manipulation be applied to induce cardiac contraction? Based on our previous work, we present a novel concept of cell stimulation. A 532 nm picosecond laser was employed to heat gold nanoparticles on cardiomyocytes. This leads to calcium oscillations in the HL-1 cardiomyocyte cell line. As calcium is connected to the contractility, we aimed to alter the contraction rate of native and stem cell derived cardiomyocytes. A contraction rate increase was particularly observed in calcium containing buffer with neonatal rat cardiomyocytes. Consequently, the study provides conceptual ideas for a light based, nanoparticle mediated stimulation system.
