Damage thresholds for cultured retinal pigment epithelial cells exposed to lasers at

The determination of safe exposure levels for lasers has come from damage assessment experiments in live animals, which typically involve correlating visually identifiable damage with laser dosimetry. Studying basic mechanisms of laser damage in animal retinal systems often requires tissue sampling...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Biomedical Optics 2007-05, Vol.12 (3), p.034030-034038
Main Authors: Denton, Michael L, Foltz, Michael S, Schuster, Kurt J, Estlack, Larry E, Thomas, Robert J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
cells
laser-induced damage
photochemical
photothermal
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The determination of safe exposure levels for lasers has come from damage assessment experiments in live animals, which typically involve correlating visually identifiable damage with laser dosimetry. Studying basic mechanisms of laser damage in animal retinal systems often requires tissue sampling (animal sacrifice), making justification and animal availability problematic. We determined laser damage thresholds in cultured monolayers of a human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell line. By varying exposure duration and laser wavelength, we identified conditions leading to damage by presumed photochemical or thermal mechanisms. A comparison with literature values for ocular damage thresholds validates the model. The system described will facilitate molecular and cellular approaches for understanding laser-tissue interaction.
ISSN:1083-3668
1560-2281
DOI:10.1117/1.2737394