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Review
. 2022 Nov 4:10:1051061.
doi: 10.3389/fchem.2022.1051061. eCollection 2022.

Emerging applications of femtosecond laser fabrication in neurobiological research

Mingzhen Tian  1   2 , Zhuo-Chen Ma  1   3 , Qingqing Han  1   3 , Qian Suo  2 , Zhijun Zhang  2 , Bing Han  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Emerging applications of femtosecond laser fabrication in neurobiological research

Mingzhen Tian et al. Front Chem. .

Abstract

As a typical micro/nano processing technique, femtosecond laser fabrication provides the opportunity to achieve delicate microstructures. The outstanding advantages, including nanoscale feature size and 3D architecting, can bridge the gap between the complexity of the central nervous system in virto and in vivo. Up to now, various types of microstructures made by femtosecond laser are widely used in the field of neurobiological research. In this mini review, we present the recent advancement of femtosecond laser fabrication and its emerging applications in neurobiology. Typical structures are sorted out from nano, submicron to micron scale, including nanoparticles, micro/nano-actuators, and 3D scaffolds. Then, several functional units applied in neurobiological fields are summarized, such as central nervous system drug carriers, micro/nano robots and cell/tissue scaffolds. Finally, the current challenges and future perspective of integrated neurobiology research platform are discussed.

Keywords: 3D scaffolds; drug delivery; femtosecond laser fabrication; micro/nano-robots; micro/nano-structures; two-photon polymerization.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer DH declared a past co-authorship with the author BH to the handling editor.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Femtosecond laser fabrication in neurobiological research. (A) Femtosecond laser nonlinear absorption mechanism. Reproduced from (Harinarayana and Shin, 2021) with permission of Elsevier. (B) Typical micro/nano structures fabricated by femtosecond laser. Reproduced from (Bailly et al., 2019) (Ma et al., 2020) with permission of Springer Nature. Reproduced from (Agrawal et al., 2021) with permission of Elsevier. (C–E) Functional units fabricated by femtosecond laser. (C) CNS drug carriers. Reproduced from (Singh et al., 2020) with permission of Elsevier. (D) Micro/nano robots. Reproduced from (Yang et al., 2019) with permission of Wiley-VCH. (E) Cell and tissue scaffolds. Reproduced from (Fan et al., 2021) with permission of Wiley-VCH. (F) Integrated platform. Reproduced from (Wei et al., 2022) with permission of Royal Society of Chemistry.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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