Is the nuclear refractive index lower than cytoplasm? Validation of phase measurements and implications for light scattering technologies.

ABSTRACT: The refractive index (RI) of biological materials is a fundamental parameter for the optical characterization of living systems. Numerous light scattering technologies are grounded in a quantitative knowledge of the refractive index at cellular and subcellular scales. Recent work in quantitative phase microscopy (QPM) has called into question the widely held assumption that the index of the cell nucleus is greater than that of the cytoplasm, a result which disagrees with much of the current literature. In this work, we critically examine the measurement of the nuclear and whole-cell refractive index using QPM, validating that nuclear refractive index is lower than that of cytoplasm in four diverse cell lines and their corresponding isolated nuclei. We further examine Mie scattering and pha

SUBMITTER: Steelman ZA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5647217 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature