Abstract
The refractive index of cells provides insights into their composition, organization and function. Moreover, a good knowledge of the cell refractive index would allow an improvement of optical cytometric and diagnostic systems. Although interferometric techniques undoubtedly represent a good solution for quantifying optical path variation, obtaining the refractive index of a population of cells non-invasively remains challenging because of the variability in the geometrical thickness of the sample. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of infrared low-coherence reflectometry for non-invasively quantifying the average refractive index of cell populations gently confined in rectangular glass micro-capillaries. A suspension of human red blood cells in plasma is tested as a reference. As a use example, we apply this technique to estimate the average refractive index of cell populations belonging to epithelial and hematological families.
Highlights
In the past years, there has been a growing interest in the development of new methods for evaluating the refractive index (RI) of cells [1]
We performed low-coherence reflectometry in various positions along the capillary to obtain the optical path length of the empty channel, of the channel filled with medium and of the channel filled with cells
We have demonstrated the use of infrared low-coherence reflectometry to detect the average refractive index of non-homogeneous biological samples, such as cell suspensions, gently confined into rectangular glass micro-capillaries
Summary
There has been a growing interest in the development of new methods for evaluating the refractive index (RI) of cells [1]. Cell RI provides insights relative to the chemical composition and organization of the cell content and, this parameter has been considered highly significant in cell biology and cyto-pathology [7,8,9]. Variations in tissue RI owing to changes in the cellular components play an important role in tissue light scattering effects, which have the potential to provide information about tissue pathology [10]. In cancer biology, the RI is considered an indicator of cell malignancy [11,12] since the RI of proliferating cells is relatively higher than that of normal quiescent cells [7,11,13,14], probably because of a higher DNA content of the nucleus [15]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
