Laser microtome: all optical preparation of thin tissue samples.

摘要

The laser microtome (LMT) is designed to slice biological tissue and various materials with high precision. The cutting process is performed by an ultrafast laser, emitting infrared light with high repetition rate of about 10 MHz. Biological Tissue can be sliced without fixation and embedding. Therefore cutting of native tissue is possible. Due to the non contact procedure further investigations of the material like immuno histological tests can be performed. At present slices with a thickness of 5 - 100μm in different biological tissues like cartilage, kidney, lung and cornea has been shown. In conjunction with a 3D imaging system like optical coherence tomography, preparation of 3D tissue volumes is possible too.