Gold-Nanorod-Assisted Near-Infrared Stimulation of Primary Auditory Neurons

J Yong; K Needham; WGA Brown; BA Nayagam; SL Mcarthur; A Yu; PR Stoddart

Journal article

Gold-Nanorod-Assisted Near-Infrared Stimulation of Primary Auditory Neurons

J Yong, K Needham, WGA Brown, BA Nayagam, SL Mcarthur, A Yu, PR Stoddart

Advanced Healthcare Materials | Published : 2014

DOI: 10.1002/adhm.201400027

Abstract

Infrared stimulation offers an alternative to electrical stimulation of neuronal tissue, with potential for direct, non-contact activation at high spatial resolution. Conventional methods of infrared neural stimulation (INS) rely on transient heating due to the absorption of relatively intense laser beams by water in the tissue. However, the water absorption also limits the depth of penetration of light in tissue. Therefore, the use of a near-infrared laser at 780 nm to stimulate cultured rat primary auditory neurons that are incubated with silica-coated gold nanorods (Au NRs) as an extrinsic absorber is investigated. The laser-induced electrical behavior of the neurons is observed using who..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Bryony Nayagam Author

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Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council under grant LP120100264 and was performed in part at the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication. The authors acknowledge the facilities, and the scientific and technical assistance, of the Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility, at RMIT University.