Extraction of intrinsic fluorescence from single fiber fluorescence measurements on a turbid medium

This study utilizes Monte Carlo simulations of single fiber fluorescence to develop an empirical model that corrects for the influence of scattering and absorption on fluorescence intensity (F-SF). The model expresses F-SF in terms of the reduced scattering coefficient (mu(s)') and absorption coefficient (mu(a)), each determined independently at excitation and emission wavelengths (lambda(x) and lambda(m)), and the fiber diameter (d(f)). This model returns accurate descriptions (mean residual <6%) of F-SF across a biologically relevant range of mu(s)' and mu(a) values and is insensitive to the form of the scattering phase function. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America