title: Fiber optic probe for polarized reflectance spectroscopy in vivo: design and performance.
abstract: We present the design and construction of a fiber optic probe for elastic light scattering spectroscopy in vivo with polarized excitation and polarization sensitive detection. The performance of the fiber probe is evaluated using a suspension of polystyrene spheres placed atop a diffusely scattering substrate, and it demonstrates that the size-dependent characteristics of the scatterers can be extracted in the presence of a highly diffusely scattering background using a linear combination of forward and backward Mie scattering components of the scatterers. Subsequently, Mie theory calculations are performed over a broad range of diagnostically relevant parameters of nuclei-mean diameter, size distribution, and relative refractive index-to understand how the polarized reflectance measurements with the fiber probe can be used to extract morphological information about epithelial tissue. Finally, the feasibility of in vivo measurements with the fiber optic based polarization sensitive light scattering spectroscopy is demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: University of Texas, Biomedical Engineering Program, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Alexey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Myakov
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nieman
authors.forename: Lorenz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wicky
authors.forename: Urs
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Utzinger
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Richards-Kortum
authors.forename: Konstantin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sokolov
mesh_terms: D055592:Biophysical Phenomena; D001703:Biophysics; D002460:Cell Line; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004548:Elasticity; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004867:Equipment Design; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D055100:Optical Fibers; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation*