We characterized the fluorescence intensity distribution within the epithel
ia and stroma of frozen human cervical tissues at the following excitation-
emission wavelength pairs: 440, 525 nm and 365, 460 nm. The intensities at
both excitation-emission wavelength pairs are significantly lower in the ep
ithelia of severely dysplastic tissues, relative to that in normal and infl
ammatory tissues. Furthermore, there are small differences in (1) the epith
elial intensity of severe dysplasia and mild dysplasia at 440, 525 nm and (
2) the stromal intensity of inflammatory and severely dysplastic tissues at
365, 460 nm. A comparison of the ratio of intensities at 440, 525 nm and 3
65, 460 nm between the epithelia of each tissue type indicates that this ra
tio is lowest in severely dysplastic tissues. It is interesting to note tha
t the epithelial and stromal intensities are comparable at 365, 460 nm; how
ever, at 440, 525 nm, the epithelial intensity is more than a factor of two
less that that of the stroma for all tissue types. (C) 2001 Optical Societ
y of America.