On Wednesday, an article, published in optical Society’s open-access journal, describes about the world’s first optical pacemaker. At Osaka University in Japan, a group of scientists reveal that small but very powerful optical pacemaker that it is very helpful to control the beating of different heart muscle cells.

According to lead researcher Nicholas Smith, “if a large amount of laser power is put over a short period of time through these cells, a huge response can be achieved.” Calcium ions within the cells are released by these laser pulses and this move compels the cells to contract, Smith further adds.

The new technique such a tool as can be very helpful to control hearth muscle cells in the laboratory and this breakthrough may also support scientists to know the mechanism of heart muscle contraction in a better way.

One possible use of this mechanism may be in studying awkward contraction of heart muscle. In normal condition the heart muscle shrinks in very rhythmic fashion and this let the heart to impel blood into different arranged blood vessels. However, in some people there is a breakdown in this coordinated beating and the heart begins to shudder unevenly. This sort of condition is also known as fibrillation.

This new technique may also prove very helpful to the scientists to develop a fibrillation in the test tube.
There can also be some drawbacks, of exposing heart muscle cells to these intense laser pulses, outside the laboratory. The laser pulses last for less than a trillionth of second but harmful results can increase overtime and this restricts the chances of clinical use.

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