Immune cell type, cell activation, and single cell heterogeneity revealed by label-free optical methods

Measurement techniques that allow the global analysis of cellular responses while retaining single-cell sensitivity are increasingly needed in order to understand complex and dynamic biological processes. In this context, compromises between sensitivity, degree of multiplexing, throughput, and invasiveness are often unavoidable. We present here a noninvasive optical approach that can retrieve quantitative biomarkers of both morphological and molecular phenotypes of individual cells, based on a combination of quantitative phase imaging and Raman spectroscopy measurements. We then develop generalized statistical tools to assess the influence of both controlled (cell sub-populations, immune stimulation) and uncontrolled (culturing conditions, animal variations, etc.) experimental parameters on the label-free biomarkers. These indicators can detect different macrophage cell sub-populations originating from different progenitors as well as their activation state, and how these changes are related to specific differences in morphology and molecular content. The molecular indicators also display further sensitivity that allow identification of other experimental conditions, such as differences between cells originating from different animals, allowing the detection of outlier behaviour from given cell sub-populations.