title: Mie-type scattering and non-Beer-Lambert absorption behavior of human cells in infrared microspectroscopy.
abstract: We report infrared microspectral features of nuclei in a completely inactive and contracted (pyknotic) state, and of nuclei of actively dividing cells. For pyknotic nuclei, the very high local concentration of DNA leads to opaqueness of the chromatin and, consequently, the absence of DNA signals in the IR spectra of very small nuclei. However, these nuclei can be detected by their scattering properties, which can be described by the Mie theory of scattering from dielectric spheres. This scattering depends on the size of the nucleus; consequently, quite different scattering cross-sections are calculated and observed for pyknotic and mitotic nuclei.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, City University of New York, Hunter College, New York, New York 10021, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mohlenhoff
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Diem
authors.forename: Bayden R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Wood
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D001703:Biophysics / Q000379:methods*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004058:Diffusion; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D008938:Mitosis; D055585:Physical Phenomena; D010825:Physics; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013053:Spectrophotometry; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared
chemical_list: D004247:DNA