Characterizing mammalian cells and cell phantoms by polarized backscattering fiber-optic measurements

Fiber-optic, polarized elastic-scattering spectroscopy techniques are imple mented and demonstrated as a method for determining both scatterer size and concentration in highly scattering media. Measurements of polystyrene sphe res are presented to validate the technique. Measurements of biological cel ls provide an estimate of the average effective scatterer radius of 0.5-1.0 mum. This average effective scatterer size is significantly smaller than t he nucleus. In addition, to facilitate use of polarization techniques on bi ological cells, polarized angular dependent scattering from cell suspension s was measured. The light scattering from cells has properties similar to t hose of small spheres. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.