Cell probing by delayed luminescence

Delayed luminescence (D.L.) is a measure that provides important information on biological systems fields, structures and activities, by counting impinging and emitted photons. Many recent experimental works have shown the existence of a close connection, sometimes analytically expressed between the biological state of the system and D.L. parameters. Our investigations aim to show that D.L. is a workable analytical technique covering a large number of disciplinary fields, from agriculture to pollution control and from medical diagnostics to food quality control. The authors have conducted systematic research about D.L. from unicellular alga Acetabularia acetabulum to Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cultures and about more complex systems such as Soya seed (Glycine max, L.) and its dependence on sample preparation, history, intracellular signaling, metabolism and pollutant presence. We will discuss the most relevant results together with theoretical considerations on the basic interaction at work between biological systems and electromagnetic fields.