A Method for Biolgical Cell Discri minaton by Means of Wide-Angle Laser Scattering Pattern Analysis II

Abstract

The laser light scattering patterns from various biological cells in a wide solid-angle were measured and analyzed using the light scattering pattern analyzing system developed for this purpose. The system was designed and constructed using a microscope, a He-Ne laser, a photodiode array, a transient recorder, a mini-computer and some optics. For the single cell analyzing method in a short time which enables us to realize automated real time cell discrimination, we developed two scattering pattern analyzing methods. One is to detect the scattered light intensity distribution as a function of the scattering angle θ, which contains useful informations concerning the outer size of the cell as well as the average size of the internal or surface structures. The another one is to detect the scattered light intensity distribution as a function of the azimuthal angle ψ, which includes mostly informations of the asymmetry of the cell itself or its internal structure.
Based on these two schemes, we have analyzed the wide-angle laser light scattering patterns of various biological cells and thus obtained results which could be used to discriminate, for instance, lymphocyte from granulocyte, lymphocyte from red blood cell and T-lymphocyte from B-lymphocyte.
This novel technique should provide shape and morphological informations of various single biological cells which allows one to perform desirable discrimination among cell types and properties. Moreover, it is to be noted that employing a simple data processing system for the short-time analysis of the wide-angle laser scattering pattern developed in this work, we could apply this method to the flowing automated cytology system.