Cells alter the path of light, a fact that leads to well-known aberrations in
single cell or tissue imaging. Optical diffraction tomography (ODT) measures
the biophysical property that causes these aberrations, the refractive index
(RI). ODT is complementary to fluorescence imaging and does not require any
markers. The present study introduces RI and fluorescence tomography with
optofluidic rotation (RAFTOR) of suspended cells, quantifying the intracellular
RI distribution and colocalizing it with fluorescence in 3D. The technique is
validated with cell phantoms and used to confirm a lower nuclear RI for HL60
cells. Furthermore, the nuclear inversion of adult mouse photoreceptor cells is
observed in the RI distribution. The applications shown confirm predictions of
previous studies and illustrate the potential of RAFTOR to improve our
understanding of cells and tissues.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure