Measurements of scattering and absorption in mammalian cell suspensions

During the past several years a range of spectroscopies, including fluorescence and elastic-scatter spectroscopy, have been investigated for optically based detection of cancer and other tissue pathologies. Both elastic-scatter and fluorescence signals depend, in part, on scattering and absorption properties of the cells in the tissue. Therefore an understanding of the scattering and absorption properties of cells is a necessary prerequisite for understanding and developing these techniques. Cell suspensions provide a simple model with which to begin studying the absorption and scattering properties of cells. In this study we have made preliminary measurements of the scattering and absorption properties of suspensions of mouse mammary carcinoma cells (EMT6) over a broad wavelength range (380 nm to 800 nm)