Visible, near-infrared, and ultraviolet laser-excited Raman spectroscopy of the monocytes/macrophages (U937) cells

Raman spectra of the monocytes were recorded with laser excitation at 532, 785, 830, and 244 nm. The measurements of the Raman spectra of monocytes excited with visible, near-infrared (NIR), and ultraviolet (UV) lasers lad to the following conclusions. (1) The Raman peak pattern of the monocytes can be easily distinguished from those of HeLa and yeast cells; (2) Positions of the Raman peaks of the dried cell are in coincidence with those of the monocytes in a culture cell media. However, the relative intensities of the peaks are changed: the peak centered around 1045 cm(-1) is strongly intensified. (3) Raman spectra of the dead monocytes are similar to those of living cells with only one exception: the Raman peak centered around 1004 cm(-1) associated with breathing mode of phenylalanine is strongly intensified. The Raman spectra of monocytes excited with 244-nm UV laser were measured on cells in a cell culture medium. A peak centered at 1485 cm(-1) dominates the UV Raman spectra of monocytes. The ratio I-1574/I-1613 for monocytes is found to be around 0.71. This number reflects the ratio between proteins and DNA content inside a cell and it is found to be twice as high as that of E. coli and 5 times as high as that of gram-positive bacteria. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.