A pneumatic gun for ballistic delivery of microparticles to soft targets is proposed and demonstrated. The particles are accelerated by a high-speed flow of helium in a capillary tube. Vacuum suction applied to a concentric larger diameter tube is used to divert substantially all of the flow of helium from the gun nozzle, thereby preventing the gas from hitting and damaging the target. Speed of ejection of micron-sized gold particles from the gun nozzle, and their depth of penetration into agarose gels are reported.
REFERENCES
1.
T. M.
Klein
, E. D.
Wolf
, R.
Wu
, and J. C.
Sanford
, Nature (London)
327
, 70
(1987
).2.
L. T.
Pecorino
and D. C.
Lo
, Curr. Biol.
2
, 30
(1992
).3.
D. C.
Lo
, A. K.
McAllister
, and L. C.
Katz
, Neuron
13
, 1263
(1994
).4.
P.
Kettunen
, J.
Demas
, C.
Lohmann
, N.
Kasthuri
, Y.
Gong
, R. O.L.
Wong
, and W. B.
Gan
, J. Neurosci. Methods
119
, 37
(2002
).5.
W. B.
Gan
, J.
Grutzendler
, W. T.
Wong
, R. O.
Wong
, and J. W.
Lichtman
, Neuron
27
, 219
(2000
).6.
J. A.
O’Brien
, M.
Holt
, G.
Whiteside
, S. C.
Lummis
, and M. H.
Hastings
, J. Neurosci. Methods
112
, 57
(2001
).7.
H.
Lorenz
, M.
Despont
, N.
Fahrni
, J.
Brugger
, P.
Vettiger
, and P.
Renaud
, Sens. Actuators, A
64
, 33
(1998
).8.
9.
G.
Tedeschi
, H.
Gouin
, and M.
Elena
, Exp. Fluids
26
, 288
(1999
).© 2005 American Institute of Physics.
2005
American Institute of Physics
You do not currently have access to this content.
