Laser Applications in Biomedicine. Part I: Biophysics, Cell Biology, and Biostimulation

The successful applications of lasers to biomedicine rely upon an adequate understanding of the principles of light interaction with tissue. These principles are based upon the fundamentals of photophysics and involve a variety of mechanisms of energy conversion: heat, photochemistry, non-thermal bond breaking, fluorescence, and mechanical shock waves. All of these mechanisms are discussed in the context of biomedical and basic cellular studies. In addition, the mechanism and use of low power (milliwatt) lasers are examined with respect to non-thermal biostimulation phenomena. Many of these applications, such as cell growth stimulation, immunologic response, and wound healing, may be based upon photochemical conversion of absorbed energy.