Evaluation of nonlinear optical differences between breast cancer cell lines SK-BR-3 and MCF-7; an in vitro study

Abstract

Background: This study aimed to explore the potential of the Z-scan technique to improve accuracy in identifying SK-BR-3 and MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines.

Methods: Three in vitro samples were prepared for each breast cancer cell line. A closed-aperture Z-scan technique was used to measure the sign and magnitude of the nonlinear refractive index of each sample. Prior to the Z-scan, all samples were fixed with 1 mL of 5% paraformaldehyde.

Results: The sign of the nonlinear refractive indices of MCF-7 and SK-BR-3 breast cancer cell lines were negative and positive, respectively. The repeated Z-scan measurements for all samples of each cell line were similar.

Conclusion: The results indicated that the proposed bio-optical method is a reliable method for characterizing differences in various breast cancer cell types. It is suggested that the nonlinear refractive index of cells be considered as an indicator for differentiating various breast cell lines from each other.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Diagnosis; Nonlinear refractive index; Z-scan.