Femtosecond laser pulses can be used to selectively disrupt and dissect intracellular organelles. We report on disruption of mitochondria in living HeLa cells using a femtosecond laser oscillator with a repetition rate of 76 MHz. We studied the laser parameters used for disruption. The long-term viability of the cells after disruption of a single mitochondrion was confirmed by the observation of cell division, indicating that intracellular disruption of organelles using a femtosecond laser oscillator can be performed without compromising the long-term cell viability. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America
