Laser used to control heartbeat of embryonic quails
AUG 16, 2010
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.024589
Nature : For the first time, researchers have used a laser beam to control a heartbeat. Michael Jenkins, a biomedical engineer at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and his team report in Nature Photonics that they succeeded in syncing the heartbeats of embryonic quails with infrared lasers. More studies are needed, but their initial results indicate that lasers could be used to study how hearts form and such conditions as congenital heart defects and could possibly lead to the development of light-based pacemakers. Although it has been known for some time that light can stimulate nerve activity, researchers still don’t know how light controls heart rate.
© 2010 American Institute of Physics
