ArticleBiomedical optics express2026
Label-free measurements of lipid droplets in cells based on quantitative differential phase contrast imaging with high oblique illumination.
Article in Biomedical optics express, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Lipid droplets (LDs) are dynamic organelles enclosed by a single layer of phospholipids and proteins, which play an important role in key physiological processes. As a critical parameter, LD size is a sensitive indicator of the effects of exogenous substances on adipogenesis. Accurate measurement of LD size in live cells is important for understanding disease mechanisms and developing targeted therapies. Fluorescence imaging offers high specificity, but it suffers from diffraction, making it difficult to distinguish smaller LDs and leading to inaccurate LD counting. Furthermore, fluorescent staining and labeling introduce phototoxicity and significant photobleaching, which disrupt the normal physiological state and impede long-term dynamic studies of LDs in live cells. Quantitative differential phase contrast (qDPC) imaging with high oblique illumination is proposed to measure LD size without any staining. According to simulations of illumination parameters, the annular LED array was designed with an illumination angle of 75 degrees. Using this qDPC configuration and L1-Retinex reconstruction, the resolution has approached 173 nm, as verified by the USAF-target. Furthermore, 200-nm microbeads produced detectable high-contrast phase signals. Then, an SEM-based calibration curve was established to obtain calibrated qDPC size estimates for microbeads ranging from 200 nm to 1 μm. In three cell lines, quantitative size, roundness, and refractive index of intracellular LDs are investigated, which can be applied to analyze their diverse dynamics. This method provides a high-resolution, label-free approach for size measurement and dynamic phase characterization of intracellular LDs.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.