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Updated: Aug 11, 2026
An Automated Method to Perform The In Vitro Micronucleus Assay using Multispectral Imaging Flow Cytometry
Published on: May 13, 2019
In vivo cytometry: a spectrum of possibilities
Alice Chung1, Scott Karlan, Erik Lindsley
1Minimally Invasive Surgical Technologies Institute and Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California 90048, USA.
Background:
We investigate whether optical imaging can reliably detect abnormalities in tissue, in a range of specimens (live cells in vitro; fixed, fresh ex-vivo and in vivo tissue), without the use of added contrast agents, and review our promising spectral methods for achieving quantitative, real-time, high resolution intrasurgical optical diagnostics.
Methods:
We use reflectance, fluorescence, two-photon, and Mie scattering imaging, performed with instrumentation we developed or modified, to detect intrinsic tissue signatures. Emphasis is on spectral/hyperspectral imaging approaches allowing the equivalent of in vivo pathology.
Results:
With experimental focus on unstained specimens, we demonstrate the ability to segment tissue images for cancer detection. Spectral reflectance imaging, coupled with advanced analysis, typically yields 90% specificity and sensitivity. Autofluorescence is also shown to be diagnostically useful, with lymph nodes results highlighted here. Elastic scattering hyperspectral imaging endoscopy, using a new instrument we designed and built, shows promise in bronchoscopic detection of dysplasia and early cancer in patients.
Conclusions:
The results demonstrate that advanced optical imaging can detect and localize cellular signatures of cancer in real-time, in vivo, without the use of contrast agents, in animals and humans. This is an important step towards tight spatio-temporal coupling between such detection and clinical intervention.
