The Influence of Physical Cell Parameters on Projection Cytometer Measurements

In this paper the influence of optical absorption on projection cytometer measurements is discussed. Projection cytometry is an optical method for measuring physical parameters of biological cells in the optical near field. For reliable results, it is crucial to keep the projection distance constant for consecutive measurements which is achieved by applying a non-coaxial sheath flow. Simulations have been performed to predict the sensor signal for different absorption coefficients inside a cell. The interesting result is that with changing absorption coefficient only a part of the signal shape changes which indicates the ability to extract this parameter from the shape of the signal.