Label-free assessment of endothelial cell metabolic state using autofluorescent microscopy

To examine the process of endothelial cell aging we utilised hyperspectral imaging to collect broad autofluorescence emission at the individual cellular level and mathematically isolate the characteristic spectra of nicotinamide and flavin adenine dinucleotides (NADH and FAD, respectively). Quantitative analysis of this data provides the basis for a non-destructive spatial imaging method for cells and tissue. FAD and NADH are important factors in cellular metabolism and have been shown to be involved with the redox state of the cell; with the ratio between the two providing the basis for an ‘optical redox ratio’.