A Laser Based Quartz Micropipette Puller

玻璃微吸管在细胞生理学中具有重要意义，在神经生理学中有着广泛的应用。进入细胞内部并监测细胞电特性的能力带来了关于神经元行为的新信息。目前可用的微吸管拉出器使用金属加热丝，并且仅限于与诸如硼硅酸盐和铝硅酸盐的低熔点玻璃一起工作。高熔点玻璃，如石英，在电生理研究中具有优越的材料性能，但很少被使用，因为它们的熔点超过了传统加热元件。萨特仪器公司在戴尔·弗莱明博士的指导下，将开发一种基于激光的微吸管拉出器，用于从石英玻璃中制造吸管。微吸管抽取器的加热源将是二氧化碳激光器，它产生的光束可以被精确地聚焦到一小块区域上，光束控制良好。除了激光熔化石英的能力外，激光还将热量直接传递到玻璃上，不会像金属灯丝那样在移液管上留下沉积物。石英吸管的机械和电学特性有可能扩大神经生理科学的几个研究领域，从而提高从细胞获取信息的能力。此外，石英微管在新兴的分子激子显微镜技术中具有重要的应用价值。

Glass micropipettes are of fundamental importance in cell physiology with profound applications in neurophysiology. The ability to access the cell's interior and monitor the electrical characteristic of the cell has lead to new information about neuronal behavior. Micropipette pullers that are currently available, utilize metal heating filaments and are limited to working with low melting point glasses such as borosilicate and aluminosilicate. High melting point glasses, such as quartz, possess superior material properties for electrophysiological research but are rarely used because their melting points exceed those of conventional heating elements. The Sutter Instrument Corporation, under the direction of Dr. Dale Fleming, will develop a laser based micropipette puller for making pipettes from quartz glasses. The heating source for the micropipette puller will be a carbon dioxide laser which produces a well-controlled light beam that can be focused precisely onto a small area. In addition to the laser's ability to melt quartz, the laser delivers heat directly to the glass and does not leave deposits on the pipette, unlike metal filaments. The mechanical and electrical properties of quartz pipettes have the potential of expanding several areas of research in neurophysiological sciences, that will result in an increased ability to obtain information from cells. Additionally, quartz micropipettes would be valuable in the emerging technology of molecular exciton microscopy.