Synthesis and surface functionalization of gold nanoparticles for localized tissue heating

Gold nanorods (GNRs) are efficient photon-to-heat converters. In this thesis, we demonstrated the feasibility of applying stable GNRs (synthesized and functionalized using wet chemical techniques) in near-infrared (NIR) stimulation of primary auditory neurons in vitro. Using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology, the results showed that the neurons cultured with stable silica-coated GNRs were able to respond to the 780 nm pulsed NIR laser irradiation by exhibiting enhanced cell electrical activity. The results also revealed temperature rises between 0.5 ºC and 6.0 ºC depending on the laser pulse length used. This work shows great promise for the future development of neural prosthetic devices.