IR microspectroscopy of live cells

The objective of the present study was to establish the conditions for infrared spectroscopy of single living cells in cell culture under aqueous media, using a high brilliance synchrotron light source to achieve acceptable S/N at the necessary high spatial resolution. This is experimentally challenging, but brings a number of significant advantages. The data presented show that the infrared spectra of single living cells can be monitored over several hours with high reproducibility, as well as confirming that acquisition of spectral data from single cells can contribute new insights that are not available from measurements of cell populations.