Random lasing as a sensing tool in brain samples of an animal model of Huntington's disease

Illuminating Huntington’s disease

27 December 2022

Random lasing can distinguish between healthy brain tissue and that from a mouse model for Huntington’s disease, a hereditary neurodegenerative condition.

Sufferers of Huntington’s disease often start displaying symptoms in their thirties and generally die within 15 years. There is currently no cure for the condition. Biomarkers for it would aid early diagnosis and research into the disease.

Now, six researchers from University of La Laguna have demonstrated that random lasing — a form of lasing that relies on scattering within a material to generate laser light — can be used to tell whether brain tissue from mice is healthy or diseased.

The researchers anticipate that this could method could be used to search for biomarkers. They think it could also reveal the presence of other neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

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References

1. Applied Physics Letters 121, 123701 (2022). doi: 10.1063/5.0114115