Аннотация:An overview of the application of optical tomography methods in the field of biological and physicochemicalresearch is provided. The capabilities of the existing methods are described. However, the potential of opticaltomography in studying cell biology has not yet been fully explored. At present, much attention is paid tostudying blood cells, in particular erythrocytes, using optical tomography. A method for studying the redistri-bution of hemoglobin molecules in single native erythrocytes with a change in the osmolarity of the mediumhas been developed. The method is based on the principles of differential optical tomography and its modifi-cations. This method allows obtaining information related to changes in morphological and physiological cellparameters in real time without using exogenous labels as a contrast for visualization. An original algorithmfor processing differential tomography data has been proposed, involving the restoration of phase images ofindividual erythrocytes. As a result of data processing, 3D images of the refractive index variations over twohours of erythrocyte exposure in a hypoosmolar medium were obtained. Selected cell parameters were calcu-lated, including morphology and dry protein mass, as well as their variations in the medium under conditionsthat are different from the normal physiological in vivo conditions. Changes in cell morphology and a decreasein dry mass have been demonstrated, and 3D maps of intracellular hemoglobin distribution were obtained. Itwas found that significant changes in the refractive index in the erythrocyte cytoplasm are observed in thenear-membrane layer upon variation of the solution tonicity. This method can be used in applied research inthe field of biology and medicine to assess the general physical properties of various cells, such as blood cells,bacteria, neurons, algae, cancer cells, etc., under normal or abnormal conditions.
