An improved algorithm for fast resonant Mie scatter correction of infrared spectra of cells and tissues

Mie scattering effects create serious problems for the interpretation of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy spectra of single cells and tissues. During recent years, different techniques were proposed to retrieve pure absorbance spectra from spectra with Mie distortions. Recently, we published an iterative algorithm for correcting Mie scattering in spectra of single cells and tissues, which we called "the fast resonant Mie scatter correction algorithm." The algorithm is based on extended multiplicative signal correction (EMSC) and employs a meta-model for a parameter range of refractive index and size parameters. In the present study, we suggest several improvements of the algorithm. We demonstrate that the improved algorithm reestablishes chemical features of the measured spectra, and show that it tends away from the reference spectrum employed in the EMSC. We suggest strategies for choosing parameter ranges and other model parameters such as the number of principal components of the meta-model and the number of iterations. We demonstrate that the suggested algorithm optimizes an error function of the refractive index in a forward Mie model. We suggest a stop criterion for the iterative algorithm based on the error function of the forward model.