Quantitative investigation on morphology and intracellular transport dynamics of migrating cells

In this paper, we present a phase correlation imaging technique employing quantitative phase microscopy to study the migration properties of living cells. The phase correlation map relies on time-lapse quantitative phase stacks, which are achieved by single-shot quantitative phase imaging based on the transport of intensity equation. The phase correlation imaging maps can reveal tiny fluctuations in cellular optical path length and dynamic subdomains in living cells. We find that the morphology dynamics and intracellular mass transport rates are significantly different as cells exhibit different levels of migratory capabilities.