Correlative Brillouin and Raman spectroscopy data acquired on single cells

Abstract

The distribution of chemical species and the mechanical modulation inside a single cell or tissue are of fundamental importance to characterize their physiological activity or their pathological conditions [1–4]. Here we analyse these properties by means of label free, non invasive, spectroscopic methods. In particular, we use a recently developed micro-spectrometer, which acquires simultaneously Raman and Brillouin spectra on the same point with subcellular resolution [5]. The techniques ability to analyse the chemical composition and the mechanical properties of single cells has been tested on NIH/3T3 murine fibroblast cells grown in adhesion on silicon substrates. Here we report the data acquired from fixed cells after their oncogenic transformation. Mechanical and chemical evolution is evident by direct inspection of raw data. Sharing our experimental records can be valuable for researchers interested in the analysis of single cells by Raman and Brillouin spectroscopy in order: i) to compare data acquired by different set-ups and ii) to correctly model the fitting functions. Keywords: Biophotonics, Brillouin spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Cell mechanics