AbstractRed and white cell lysis buffers were investigated to determine their ability to remove blood components from cervical smears prior to IR microspectroscopy. A white cell lysis buffer was effective in increasing the spectral reproducibility and sample homogeneity and in reducing the presence of inflammatory exudate, particularly leukocytes, from cervical smears. The reduction of leukocytes appeared to cause abnormal samples to be grouped with normal samples, resulting in poor discrimination. Despite differences between the cytological and histological diagnoses of cervical abnormalities, the results indicate that the differences seen in the spectra of exfoliated malignant and nonmalignant cervical cells could be due to the presence of inflammation. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Biospectroscopy) 72: 69–76, 2003