Gold nanorods as exogenous chromophores in the welding of ocular tissues

In this paper we show for the first time the suitability of gold nanorods as exogenous chromophores to mediate the near infrared laser welding of connective tissues. We used a 810 nm diode laser to simulate hetero-transplantations of patches of porcine lens capsules stained with nanorods with plasmon resonances about that wavelength. In our preliminary tests, successful welding was achieved at fluences in the 80 - 110 J·cm -2 range, which is, at worst, less than half of the threshold for direct damage, although still about a factor of two higher than the state-of-the-art with conventional chromophores such as Indocyanine Green.