Microspectrofluorometry and fluorescence imaging in the study of human cytopathology

The study of energy pools and dynamics of specific pathways in living cells by microspectrofluorometry and fluorescence imaging produces spectral and topographic images characterizing structural and functional changes associa ted with cytopathology. Microspectro-fluorometry and fluorescence imaging h ave been applied, together with organelle morphometry to a number of cells mimicking certain cytopathologies, including melanoma cells, long-term mali gnant cells, and gene-defective cells. These investigations of cellular pat hology indicate that there is a convergence of various physiopathological p rocesses. Cellular states that have similarities include senescence, detoxi fication, and transformation. While the NAD(P)H metabolic transients have b een studied before, our emphasis in this article is on very rapidly scanned fluorescence images related to organelle integration and photoinduced cell ular senescence. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss. Inc.