System and method for assessing cellular metabolic activity

摘要: Methods and corresponding apparatus and systems for assessing cellular metabolic activity are disclosed. In one aspect, a cell can be illuminated with optical radiation in order to cause multi-photon excitation of at least one endogenous metabolic cofactor in that cell and cause the excited metabolic cofactor to emit fluorescent radiation. A detector can be used to detect the fluorescent radiation emitted by the excited endogenous metabolic cofactor. A computer processor can analyze the fluorescent radiation to derive the following parameters:(1) using a computer processor to analyze the intensity of the fluorescent radiation,(2) a fluorescence lifetime of at least one of the excited metabolic cofactor,(3) a parameter indicative of mitochondrial clustering in the cell. These parameters can be used to assess at least one metabolic process of the cell.