Nano Research & Applications

Abstract

Presently, biomedical implants and testing devices uses electricity as the stimulation method. It is not possible to achieve desired spatial resolution with electrical stimulation that can mimic biological functions to the satisfactory levels because electric field’s spatial spread in the tissue causes nonspecific stimulations. Therefore, there is growing demand to explore the alternative methods for cell stimulation that can be utilized in biomedical devices. Nanotechnology offers exciting alternative for the same. Metal nanoparticles like gold produces localized field, also known as surface plasmons, at nano scale when exposed to specific wavelength light. We explored the possibility of using these plasmons for cellular stimulation. We found that gold nanoparticles in combination with 532 nm visible light can stimulate various cells in-vitro: SH-SY5Y neurons, cardiomyocytes, and primary neurons. Experiments were carried out using standard patch clamp instruments. The technique was further optimized by combining optical and electrical stimulations to mitigate the disadvantages of pure optical-nano stimulation. The project has potential to significantly impact the field of biomedical implants and testing devices and could pave the way for next generation medical devices.