Quantitative extraction of morphologic cell parameters from the diffraction pattern

A new technique for the fast and quantitative extraction of cell parameters from diffraction patterns was applied to cervical gynecologic material. Based on radial scans through the diffraction pattern, this technique permits the simultaneous determination of the nuclear and cytoplasmic diameter by Fourier analysis of the radial scanning signals after compensation for the intensity falloff by an amplification which is proportional to the third power of the radial position in the diffraction plane. In addition, a correlation between the angle of the highest amplitude of the scanning signals and the coarseness of microstructures in the cell was observed. Illustrative examples of measurements on exfoliated cells of different type are presented.