Measurements of adipose derived stem cell vitality with optical coherence phase microscopy

Live cells display a constant vertical motility due partly to a constant rearrangement of focal contacts and to cell shape fluctuations. This cellular micromotion has been clearly demonstrated with electric cell impedance sensing (ECIS) on 2D micro-electrodes, and correlated to cell vitality. In this study we investigated if optical coherence phase microscopy (OCPM) was able to report phase fluctuations of adult stem cells in 2D and 3D that could be correlated to cell motility. An OCPM has been developed around a Thorlabs engine (lambda o=930nm FWHM: 90nm) and integrated in an inverted microscope with a custom scanning head. Human adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs, Invitrogen) were cultured in Mesenpro RS medium and seeded either on ECIS arrays, 2D cell culture dishes, or in 3D highly porous microplotted polymeric scaffolds. ADSC motility was measured by ECIS and a spectral analysis was performed to retrieve the power spectral density (PSD) of the fluctuations. Cells in standard media and fixed cells were investigated. The same conditions were then investigated for ADSCs in 2D and in 3D with optical coherence phase microscopy. Significant differences were found in phase fluctuations between the different conditions, which correlated well with ECIS experiments. These preliminary results indicated that optical coherence phase microscopy could assess cell vitality in 2D and potentially in 3D microstructures.