Laser Pulses Can Control the Heart

Scientists recently managed an impressive achievement in the field of bioengineering, when they managed to control an embryonic heart using nothing more than laser light for the first time ever.

The group controlled the pace of the heart, which means that creating new generations of pacemakers could soon become possible.

There are devices that give low-energy electrical impulses to the heart whenever the organ needs them. They are implanted in patients' chests, and require battery swaps from time to time.

With the new laser-enabled technology, experts hope to be able to produce advanced pacemakers, that would eliminate the need for electrodes being placed on the heart.

The new finding also brings hope for cardiologists and developmental biologists, who say that they will in the near future become able to study conditions such as heart development and congenital heart diseases.

“If you're trying to use an electrode to touch the heart and stimulate it, the contacts could disrupt potential observation of the heartbeat,” explains Ed Boyden.

“A noninvasive methodology for pulsing the heart is important for science. Potentially, this could open up a lot of experiments,” adds the expert who is a professor of biological engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that was not involved in the research.

Standard pacemakers also have ill effects on the heart, if they are used constantly over decades. Attaching the electrodes to the muscles of the heart weakens the organ, therefore shortening lifespans.

Given the fact that they are in direct contact with the heart at all times, they are also rather useless for scientific studies, as they hamper with the organ's natural beating patterns.

This is precisely why optical pacemakers, such as the ones the new discovery herald, could be of such great use to both investigators and patients.

“Noninvasively pacing a heart with light has different advantages and disadvantages from electrical stimulation. It has the potential to be used all the way from basic research to clinical applications,” says Michael Jenkins.

He holds an appointment at the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, where he is a postdoctoral student in bioengineer. The expert is also the first author of the new study, Technology Review reports.