Application of Ultrafast Laser Optoperforation for Plant Pollen Walls and Endothelial Cell Membranes

-fertilization and numerous other clinical areas (Nelson & Berm, 1989; Senz & Miiller, 1989). Furthermore, it is also a useful tool for studying basic cellular and biochemical processes. Fluence, energy per unit area, is one of the most important and critical aspects of the laser treatment (Sidhu et al., 2009). Depending upon the laser fluence, either transient or permanent changes can be induced in various cellular compartments including cell walls, plasma membranes, and even organelles with high resolution under physiological environment. For instance, Higashiyama et al. performed a selective ablation of a target compartment of the embryo sac with ultraviolet (UV) pulsed laser to investigate the contribution of each gametophytic cell to pollen tube attraction and found that the synergic cells adjacent to the egg cell plays an important role in attracting the pollen tube (Higashiyama et al., 2001). Laser pulses with a sufficient spatial resolution can introduce a physical gate in either a membrane or a cell wall under physiological environment such that one could deliver a foreign material into the cell and bring about selective manipulation of subcellular components without demolishing the cell’s integrity. It has been reported that in Japonica rice (