Development of living cells light scattering model from optical measurements

Abstract

Light in turbid tissues is diffused according to a number of properties of the tissue in which it is propagating. In opto-genetics, light can be used to control sub-cellular processes such as the generation of particular substances, for example medicines targeting specific diseases. The Optogenerapy project (www.optogenerapy.eu) is concerned with the light induced control of cells using near IR light for the generation of interferon-beta for the control of multiple sclerosis. To optimise the generation of the wanted substances, a homogeneous illumination of the cells is r

A simple light scattering model is developed to allow the extraction of the optical properties of arbitrary turbid media from the analysis of a single image. This model is applied to the analysis of genetically modified embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells suspended in a Geltrex solution as part of the development of an implant for the management of multiple sclerosis with the H2020 funded project Optogenerapy. The values of the mean free path, absorption coefficient and scattering anisotropy are in accordance with the literature. Further verification of the validity of the measured parameters is performed through simulation of the system in ray-tracing software Zemax.