Ex vivo microfluorometric study as a basis to define the potentials of autofluorescence in the diagnosis of colonic tumor mucosa

An ex vivo microspectrofluorometric analysis has been performed on samples from normal tissue and adenocarcinoma of human colon, to define the biological background of the autofluorescence-based approach to the diagnosis of neoplastic lesions. The fluorescence properties of the biological tissues have been investigated in relation with their morpho-functional and biochemical characteristics, in thin sections and extracts from surgical resections. Differences in the fluorescence of the normal and the neoplastic tissue have been found as to both intensity distribution and spectral shape are concerned, that can be related to the histologic organization of the tissues and/or to the differences in the relative amount of the fluorophores. The results obtained could provide indications useful to improve the in vivo diagnostic procedure, as to the excitation and emission conditions are concerned that can maximize the differences between normal and neoplastic tissues.