SPECTRAL MORPHOMETRIC CHARACTERIZATION OF B-CLL CELLS VERSUS NORMAL SMALL LYMPHOCYTES

Spectral morphometric characterization of typical chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cells vs normal small lymphocytes stained by May-Grun wald-Giemsa was carried out by multipixel spectral imaging. The light intensity (450-850 nm of 10(4) pixels) from nuclear domains of each st ained cell was recorded and represented as light transmittance spectra and optical density. Transmitted light spectra of two nuclear domains were determined, one with low-intensity light transmittance (LIT) and the other with high-intensity light transmittance (HIT). A spectral l ibrary was constructed using the four transmitted light spectra repres enting the HIT and LIT domains of the normal human lymphocytes and the LIT and HIT domains of the CLL cells. The spectral library served to scan CLL lymphocytes from 10 cases of CLL and the lymphocytes of 10 he althy individuals. Each spectrally similar domain in the nuclei of the lymphocytes was assigned an arbitrary color. The morphometric analysi s of the spectrally classified nuclei showed specific spectral pattern s for B-CLL in 92% of the cells. The specific spectral characteristics of each of the two cell populations were also observed by their optic al density light absorbance spectra. We propose that spectral morphome tric analysis may serve as an additional diagnostic tool for detection of CLL lymphocytes in a hematological specimen.