Study on the cellular-level polarization characteristics of pathological sections with different preparation state by Mueller matrix polarimeter

Mueller matrix polarimetry is regarded as a promising technique to comprehensively provide the optical and microstructural information of tissues. Especially, for pathological diagnosis, the Mueller matrix imaging can be used as a powerful tool to detect the structural features of abnormal tissue areas on pathological sections. However, a comparative study of the polarization characteristics of pathological sections with different preparation state is still needed to help decide which kinds of sections can be effectively used for polarization imaging diagnosis. In this paper, we apply the Mueller imaging polarimeter for quantitative detection of lung cancer section with the state of undewaxed, dewaxed and H-E stained at cellular-level respectively. The Mueller matrix polar decomposition parameters of the lung cancer section are calculated and analyzed. The results indicate that the polarization images of undewaxed section can reflect the morphology and arrangement of cells. The polarization images of dewaxed is more suitable for the quantitative analysis of tissue. The polarization images of stained sections are sensitive to the nucleus, which is suitable for the study of the internal structure of the nucleus.