PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF LASER-INDUCED STRESS WAVES

Laser-induced stress waves can be generated by one of the following me chanisms: optical breakdown, ablation, or rapid heating of an absorbin g medium, These three modes of laser interaction with matter allow the investigation of cellular and tissue responses to stress waves with d ifferent characteristics and under different conditions, The effects o f stress waves on cells and tissues can be quite disparate, Stress wav es can fracture tissue, kill cells, decrease cell viability and increa se the permeability of the plasma membrane, They can induce deleteriou s effects during medical procedures of high power, short pulse lasers or, alternatively, may facilitate new therapeutic modalities, such as drug delivery and gene therapy, This review covers the generation of l aser-induced stress waves and their effects on cell cultures and tissu e.