Digital holographic microscopy: a noninvasive method to analyze the formation of spheroids

Digital holographic (DH) microscopy is a unique noninvasive method to analyze living cells. With DH microscopy, in vitro cell cultures can be imaged in 2D and pseudo-3D and measurements of size and morphology of the cells are provided. Here, a description of a novel methodology utilizing DH microscopy for the analysis of spheroids is presented. A cell culture protocol is introduced and morphological parameters of cell spheroids as measured by DH microscopy are presented. The study confirms the use of DH microscopy for the analysis of cell spheroids. In the future, organoids can be analyzed with DH microscopy, and it can also be used for drug response and cell death analyses.