Polarized hyperspectral microscopic imaging for white blood cells on Wright-stained blood smear slides

White blood cells, also called leukocytes, are hematopoietic cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious diseases and foreign materials. The abnormal development and uncontrolled proliferation of these cells can lead to devastating cancers. Their timely recognition in the peripheral blood is critical to diagnosis and treatment. In this study, we developed a microscopic imaging system for improving the visualization of white blood cells on Wright's stained blood smear slides, with two different setups: polarized light imaging and polarized hyperspectral imaging. Based on the polarized light imaging setup, we collected the RGB images of Stokes vector parameters (S0, S1, S2, and S3) of five types of white blood cells (neutrophil, eosinophil, basophil, lymphocyte, and monocyte), and calculated the Stokes vector derived parameters: the degree of polarization (DOP), the degree of linear polarization (DOLP), and the degree of circular polarization (DOCP)). We also calculated Stokes vector data based on the polarized hyperspectral imaging setup. The preliminary results demonstrate that Stokes vector derived parameters (DOP, DOLP, and DOCP) could improve the visualization of granules in granulocytes (neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils). Furthermore, Stokes vector derived parameters (DOP, DOLP, and DOCP) could improve the visualization of surface structures (protein patterns) of lymphocytes enabling subclassification of lymphocyte subpopulations. Finally, S2, S3, and DOCP could enhance the morphologic visualization of monocyte nucleus. We also demonstrated that the polarized hyperspectral imaging setup could provide complementary spectral information to the spatial information on different Stokes vector parameters of white blood cells. This work demonstrates that polarized light imaging & polarized hyperspectral imaging has the potential to become a strong imaging tool in the diagnosis of disorders arising from white blood cells.