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Optica Publishing Group
  • Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference
  • OSA Technical Digest (Optica Publishing Group, 1993),
  • paper JMA1

Using optical tweezers to study biological motors and cellular structures

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Abstract

A single beam gradient force optical trap,1–3 or "optical tweezers," exerts forces on microscopic dielectric particles using a highly focused beam of laser light, and can achieve stable, three-dimensional trapping of objects (for recent reviews, see Refs. 4, 5). Using an infrared laser, calibratable forces in the picoNewton (pN) range can be easily generated without producing significant damage to biological specimens. Optical tweezers work through the microscope, without mechanical intrusion within sealed preparations, and can even reach directly inside cells or organelles. Optical traps can be controlled with extraordinary spatial and temporal precision, and they have the potential to revolutionize aspects of cell biology. The characteristic "grasp" of optical tweezers is approximately equal to the wavelength of light, but they can capture and/or manipulate objects ranging in size from a few nanometers to a hundred micrometers. Biological preparations (e.g., cells, vesicles, organelles) or small particles (e.g., latex or silica microspheres, perhaps carrying reagents coupled to their surfaces) can be held, maneuvered, or released at will. Already researchers have begun to contemplate experiments that were a practical impossibility just a short while ago. Some advances include; (1) sorting and isolation of cells, vesicles, organelles, chromosomes, etc,; (2) direct measurement of the mechanical properties of cytoskeletal assemblies, membranes, or membrane-bound elements; (3) measurement of the tiny forces produced by mechanoenzymes; (4) establishing cell-cell contacts, or measuring receptor-ligand inter- actions; (5) cellutar rheology on the micrometer scale; (6) cellular microsurgery, membrane fusion, and building novel cellular (or noncellular) microstructures; and (7) capturing and maintaining fragile biological structures away from vessel surfaces, in order to study them in isolation under optimal viewing conditions. The principles of optical tweezers will be explained, and a videotape illustrating a number of novel experimental uses will be shown.

© 1993 Optical Society of America

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