Performance of line-scan Raman microscopy for high-throughput chemical imaging of cell population

We evaluate the performance of line-scan Raman microscopy (LSRM), a versatile label-free technique, for high-throughput chemical imaging of cell population. We provide detailed design and configuration of a home-built LSRM system developed in our laboratory. By exploiting parallel acquisition, the LSRM system achieves a significant throughput advantage over conventional point-scan Raman microscopy by projecting a laser line onto the sample and imaging the Raman scattered light from the entire line using a grating spectrograph and a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. Two-dimensional chemical maps can be generated by scanning the projected line in the transverse direction. The resolution in the x and y direction has been characterized to be ~600-800 nm for 785 nm laser excitation. Our system enables rapid classification of microparticles with similar shape, size, and refractive index based on their chemical composition. An equivalent imaging throughput of 100 microparticles/s for 1 μm polystyrene beads has been achieved. We demonstrate the application of LSRM to imaging bacterial spores by identifying endogenous calcium dipicolinate. We also demonstrate that LSRM enables the study of intact microalgal cells at the colonial level and the identification of intra- and extracellular chemical constituents and metabolites, such as chlorophyll, carotenoids, lipids, and hydrocarbons. We conclude that LSRM can be an effective and practical tool for obtaining endogenous microscopic chemical and molecular information from cell population.