Abstract. Apoptosis-programmed cell death-is a cellular process exhibiting distinct biochemical and morphological changes. An understanding of the early morphological changes that a cell undergoes during apoptosis can provide the opportunity to monitor apoptosis in tissue, yielding diagnostic and prognostic information. There is avid interest regarding the involvement of apoptosis in cancer. The initial response of a tumor to successful cancer treatment is often massive apoptosis. Current apoptosis detection methods require cell culture disruption. Our aim is to develop a nondisruptive optical method to monitor apoptosis in living cells and tissues. This would allow for real-time evaluation of apoptotic progression of the same cell culture over time without alteration. Elastic scattering spectroscopy ͑ESS͒ is used to monitor changes in light-scattering properties of cells in vitro due to apoptotic morphology changes. We develop a simple instrument capable of wavelength-resolved ESS measurements from cell cultures in the backward direction. Using Mie theory, we also develop an algorithm that extracts the size distribution of scatterers in the sample. The instrument and algorithm are validated with microsphere suspensions. For cell studies, Chinese hamster ovary ͑CHO͒ cells are cultured to confluence on plates and are rendered apoptotic with staurosporine. Backscattering measurements are performed on pairs of treated and control samples at a sequence of times up to 6-h posttreatment. Initial results indicate that ESS is capable of discriminating between treated and control samples as early as 10-to 15-min posttreatment, much earlier than is sensed by standard assays for apoptosis. Extracted size distributions from treated and control samples show a decrease in Rayleigh and 150-nm scatterers, relative to control samples, with a corresponding increase in 200-nm particles. Work continues to correlate these size distributions with underlying morphology. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the use of backscattering spectral measurements to quantitatively monitor apoptosis in viable cell cultures in vitro.

We report the development of non-invasive, fiber-based diffuse optical spectroscopy for simultaneously quantifying vascular oxygenation (SO2) and glucose uptake in solid tumors in vivo. Glucose uptake was measured using a fluorescent glucose analog, 2-[N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diaxol-4-yl)amino]-2-deoxyglucose (2-NBDG). Quantification of label-free SO2 and 2-NBDG-fluorescence-based glucose uptake 60 minutes after administration of the tracer (2-NBDG60) was performed using computational models of light-tissue interaction. This study was carried out on normal tissue and 4T1 and 4T07 murine mammary tumor xenografts in vivo. Injection of 2-NBDG did not cause a significant change in optical measurements of SO2, demonstrating its suitability as a functional reporter of tumor glucose uptake. Correction of measured 2-NBDG-fluorescence for the effects of absorption and scattering significantly improved contrast between tumor and normal tissue. The 4T1 and 4T07 tumors showed significantly decreased SO2, and 4T1 tumors demonstrated increased 2-NBDG60 compared with normal tissue (60 minutes after the administration of 2-NBDG when perfusion-mediated effects have cleared). 2-NBDG-fluorescence was found to be highly sensitive to food deprivation-induced reduction in blood glucose levels, demonstrating that this endpoint is indeed sensitive to glycolytic demand. 2-NBDG60 was also found to be linearly related to dose, underscoring the importance of calibrating for dose when comparing across animals or experiments. 4T1 tumors demonstrated an inverse relationship between 2-NBDG60 and SO2 that was consistent with the Pasteur effect, particularly when exposed to hypoxic gas breathing. Our results illustrate the potential of optical spectroscopy to provide valuable information about the metabolic status of tumors, with important implications for cancer prognosis.

In an ongoing effort to address the clear clinical unmet needs surrounding breast conserving surgery (BCS), our group has developed a next-generation multiplexed optical-fiber-based tool to assess breast tumor margin status during initial surgeries. Specifically detailed in this work is the performance and clinical validation of a research-grade intra-operative tool for margin assessment based on diffuse optical spectroscopy. Previous work published by our group has illustrated the proof-of-concept generations of this device; here we incorporate a highly optimized quantitative diffuse reflectance imaging (QDRI) system utilizing a wide-field (imaging area = 17cm2) 49-channel multiplexed fiber optic probe, a custom raster-scanning imaging platform, a custom dual-channel white LED source, and an astronomy grade imaging CCD and spectrograph. The system signal to noise ratio (SNR) was found to be greater than 40dB for all channels. Optical property estimation error was found to be less than 10%, on average, over a wide range of absorption (μa = 0–8.9cm-1) and scattering (μs’ = 7.0–9.7cm-1) coefficients. Very low inter-channel and CCD crosstalk was observed (2% max) when used on turbid media (including breast tissue). A raster-scanning mechanism was developed to achieve sub-pixel resolution and was found to be optimally performed at an upsample factor of 8, affording 0.75mm spatially resolved diffuse reflectance images (λ = 450–600nm) of an entire margin (area = 17cm2) in 13.8 minutes (1.23cm2/min). Moreover, controlled pressure application at the probe-tissue interface afforded by the imaging platform reduces repeated scan variability, providing <1% variation across repeated scans of clinical specimens. We demonstrate the clinical utility of this device through a pilot 20-patient study of high-resolution optical parameter maps of the ratio of the β-carotene concentration to the reduced scattering coefficient. An empirical cumulative distribution function (eCDF) analysis is used to reduce optical property maps to quantitative distributions representing the morphological landscape of breast tumor margins. The optimizations presented in this work provide an avenue to rapidly survey large tissue areas on intra-operative time scales with improved sensitivity to regions of focal disease that may otherwise be overlooked.

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Abstract. Elastic scattering spectroscopy (ESS), in the form of wavelength-dependent backscattering measurements, can be used to monitor apoptosis in cell cultures. Early changes in backscattering upon apoptosis induction are characterized by an overall decrease in spectral slope and begin as early as 10 to 15 min post-treatment, progressing over the next 6 to 8 h. The timescale of early scattering changes is consistent with reports of the onset of apoptotic volume decrease (AVD). Modeling cellular scattering with a fixed distribution of sizes and a decreasing index ratio, as well as an increased contribution of the whole cell to cellular scattering, resulting from increased cytoplasmic density, is also consistent with observed spectral changes. Changes in ESS signal from cells undergoing osmotically-induced volume decrease in the absence of apoptosis were similar, but smaller in magnitude, to those of apoptotic cells. Further, blockage of Cl − channels, which blocks AVD and delays apoptosis, blocked the early scattering changes, indicating that the early scattering changes during apoptosis result, at least partially, from AVD. Work continues to identify the additional sources of early spectral scattering changes that result from apoptosis induction. C 2011 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).