Polarized fluorescence study in human cervical tissue: change in autofluorescence through different excitation wavelengths

Abstract

This study aims towards applying the intrinsic fluorescence technique, extracted from polarized fluorescence, to detect subtle biochemical changes occurring during the progression of cancer from human cervical tissue samples. The efficacy of this technique, earlier validated through tissue phantoms, is tested in human cervical tissues by comparing the biochemical changes for diagnostic purpose at different wavelengths. It is pertinent to note that the co and crosspolarized fluorescence do not display the high sensitivity obtained through extracted intrinsic fluorescence. We observed that sensitivity and specificity of intrinsic fluorescence technique is high at 325 and 370nm for Collagen and NADH respectively in comparison to 350nm excitation wavelength. It may be concluded that decoupled information at 325 and 370nm wavelengths for collagen and NADH respectively, through intrinsic fluorescence provides better diagnostic parameter for early detection of cervical dysplasia. This information can provide a guiding path for designing a probe for clinical purpose.