Optical fluorescence spectroscopy using LED-type light in ex-vivo cervical tissues.

Abstract

Doing studies of biological tissues as the one of cervix with alternative techniques allows to direct to a medical diagnosis support of cervix cancer, the fourth more common in the world and the first cause of death in women between 30 and 59 years old in Colombia. In the cervix tissue there are found different fluorophores such as: NADH, flavine, elastin and collagen; molecules that generates fluorescence thanks to the capacity of absorb electromagnetic energy, this allows the emission of photons of less energy at a certain wavelength. In the initial steps of the dysplasia, the cells change their metabolic velocities, physical and structural characteristics; with that the spectral response of the molecules present in the cervical tissue is altered. In the research, an analysis of the fluorescence spectrum was made by using LED ultraviolet light in the range between 335 and 340 nm as source of electromagnetic radiation and was verified when interacting with the biological tissue of the cervix biopsies given by the Caldas Pathology Institute of the city of Manizales-Colombia, spectrum with active responses is generated in the wavelength ranges of the fluorophores, showing the interaction and excitation between them. Those spectra are similar to the ones obtained with the traditional optical fluorescence spectroscopy applied with a laser light source. The previous fact lets conclude that using LED technology of lower cost than the lasers used usually is viable to continue with the processing of the spectrum of the cervix tissue and generate a classification according to its pathology.