Random lasing (RL) is based on the occurrence of a set of light-scattering events in an active medium that provides the optical feedback mechanism necessary to achieve laser emission. The inherent disorder present in biological tissues makes them good candidates for RL generation, with the optical detection of cancerous tissues as one of its most notable applications reported in recent years. Recently, we have also identified RL differences between brain samples of mice affected and nonaffected by Huntington’s disease (HD). HD is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by the mutation of the huntingtin gene, leading to the misfolding and aggregation of the huntingtin protein (HTT). Mutated HTT is mostly expressed in the brain, but it is also present in peripheral organs. From a medical perspective, it would be interesting to know whether RL maintains its discriminative potential for HD pathology in biological samples obtained through noninvasive procedures. In this paper, we report on the RL emission from blood samples of mice for the optical detection of HD in an observational case study. The RL signals from blood samples of five R6/1 mice, a mouse model of HD, are analyzed and compared with those from five control littermates. A multivariate statistical classification study is conducted, showing that RL holds a success rate over 80% in discriminating blood samples of R6/1 mice from their wild-type littermates.

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• Laser applications
• Light propagation in random media
• Organic microcavities
• Random lasers
• Remote sensing