Investigation of laser-induced cell lysis using time-resolved imaging

The lysis of confluent PtK2 cell cultures was investigated by pulsed laser microbeam irradiation. Lysis to be mediated by laser-induced plasma formation was demonstrated by images obtained at time delays of 0.5 ns to 50 μs. The quantitative characterization of the pressure wave and cavitation bubble dynamics were enabled by image analysis. The results show that the zone of cell damage exceeded the plasma size and serves to implicate cavitation bubble expansions as the primary agent of cell injury