Micro-light guides: a new method for measuring tissue fluorescence and reflectance.

Three-way light guides containing one or more strands of 25-micron or 80-micron diameter optical fibers in each channel have been constructed and used to measure the NADH fluorescence and UV reflectance from mitochondrial suspensions, the perfused, hemoglobin-free rat liver, and the perfused beating interventricular septum of the rabbit. The optical changes measured with these so-called micro-light guides, which have channels containing one or several strands of optical fibers less than 100 micron, are comparable in magnitude with those measured using much larger conventional light guides. The effect of light scattering on the fluorescence channel has been determined and an empirical equation for correcting the fluorescence channel for light scattering has been obtained for mitochondrial suspensions. A mathematical equation characterizing the optical behavior of a two-way micro-light guide has been derived and has been shown to account satisfactorily for reflectance and fluorescence measurements of a mat surface in air.