In search of methods for obtaining information about the internal structure of biological cells, two types of experimental/theoretical studies were carried out on suspensions of yeast cells. Both showed cells with central vacuoles to be radiometrically different from those of cells without vacuoles. In one case the cells were osmotically preshrunken, placed in a normal medium, and transmittance was monitored as they swelled. The presence of a vacuole was determined from the manner in which transmittance varied with cell volume. In the other method, the wavelength dependence of transmittance was measured. It was found to be different for suspensions of cells with and without vacuoles. For theoretical calculations, the cells were modeled as homogeneous and hollow spheres and spheroids. The refractive index of the core was taken equal to that of the medium. Predictions based on these cell models were used to interpret-the experimental findings.

© 1979 Optical Society of America

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