Differential light scattering from spherical mammalian cells.

The differential scattered light intensity patterns of spherical mammalian cells were measured with a new photometer which uses high-speed film as the light detector. The scattering objects, interphase and mitotic Chinese hamster ovary cells and HeLa cells, were modeled as (a) a coated sphere, accounting for nucleus and cytoplasm, and (b) a homogeneous sphere when no cellular nucleus was present. The refractive indices and size distribution of the cells were measured for an accurate comparison of the theoretical model with the light-scattering measurements. The light scattered beyond the forward direction is found to contain information about internal cellular morphology, provided the size distribution of the cells is not too broad.