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Imaging human epithelial properties with polarized light-scattering spectroscopy

Nature Medicine volume 7, pages 1245–1248 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Biomedical imaging with light-scattering spectroscopy (LSS) is a novel optical technology developed to probe the structure of living epithelial cells in situ without need for tissue removal. LSS makes it possible to distinguish between single backscattering from epithelial-cell nuclei and multiply scattered light. The spectrum of the single backscattering component is further analyzed to provide quantitative information about the epithelial-cell nuclei such as nuclear size, degree of pleomorphism, degree of hyperchromasia and amount of chromatin. LSS imaging allows mapping these histological properties over wide areas of epithelial lining. Because nuclear enlargement, pleomorphism and hyperchromasia are principal features of nuclear atypia associated with precancerous and cancerous changes in virtually all epithelia, LSS imaging can be used to detect precancerous lesions in optically accessible organs.

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Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the polarized LSS imaging apparatus.
Figure 2: Gross and microscopic photographs of colonic polyps used for LSS imaging shown in Fig. 3.
Figure 3: LSS images of colon tissue samples.

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Acknowledgements

We thank W. Lencer for T84 cells and S. Fulghum for useful comments. This study was supported by NIH grant P41-RR02594, NIH grant R01-CA53717 and CIMIT grant 731-3489-5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. G.R. Harrison Spectroscopy Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Rajan S. Gurjar, Lev T. Perelman, Irene Georgakoudi, Irving Itzkan, Ramachandra R. Dasari & Michael S. Feld

  2. Biomedical Engineering Department, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Vadim Backman

  3. Department of Pathology, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Kamran Badizadegan

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  1. Rajan S. Gurjar
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Correspondence to Vadim Backman.

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Gurjar, R., Backman, V., Perelman, L. et al. Imaging human epithelial properties with polarized light-scattering spectroscopy. Nat Med 7, 1245–1248 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1101-1245

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