Cell viability assessment is critical, yet existing assessments
are not accurate enough. We report a cell viability evaluation method
based on the metabolic ability of a single cell. Without culture medium,
we measured the absorption of cells to terahertz laser beams, which
could target a single cell. The cell viability was assessed with a
convolution neural classification network based on cell morphology.
We established a cell viability assessment model based on the THz-AS
(terahertz-absorption spectrum) results as y = a = (x – b)
c
, where x is the terahertz absorbance and y is the cell viability, and a, b, and c are the fitting parameters of
the model. Under water stress the changes in terahertz absorbance
of cells corresponded one-to-one with the apoptosis process, and we
propose a cell 0 viability definition as terahertz absorbance remains
unchanged based on the cell metabolic mechanism. Compared with typical
methods, our method is accurate, label-free, contact-free, and almost
interference-free and could help visualize the cell apoptosis process
for broad applications including drug screening.