Nanoparticle-Assisted Localized Optical Stimulation of Cultured Neurons

Nanoparticle-assisted localized optical stimulation (NALOS) of cultured neurons is an all-optical method that allows subcellular light stimulation to investigate localized signaling in neurons. The stimulation and monitoring of localized Ca2+ signaling in neurons takes advantage of plasmonic excitation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with infrared light. In this chapter we describe how NALOS, through its effects localized to region smaller than 10 μm2, may be a useful complement to other light-dependent methods for controlling neuronal activity and cell signaling. We demonstrate that this technique can be applied to cultured hippocampal neurons using commercially available bare AuNPs.