title: Plasma-mediated ablation: an optical tool for submicrometer surgery on neuronal and vascular systems.
abstract: Plasma-mediated ablation makes use of high energy laser pulses to ionize molecules within the first few femtoseconds of the pulse. This process leads to a submicrometer-sized bubble of plasma that can ablate tissue with negligible heat transfer and collateral damage to neighboring tissue. We review the physics of plasma-mediated ablation and its use as a tool to generate targeted insults at the subcellular level to neurons and blood vessels deep within nervous tissue. Illustrative examples from axon regeneration and microvascular research highlight the utility of this tool. We further discuss the use of ablation as an integral part of automated histology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0374, USA.
authors.forename: Philbert S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Blinder
authors.forename: Benjamin J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Migliori
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neev
authors.forename: Yishi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Jeffrey A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Squier
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kleinfeld
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000379:methods*; D003319:Corneal Stroma / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D055806:Microvessels / Q000601:surgery*; D009417:Nerve Tissue / Q000601:surgery*