1 General Overview on Vibrational Spectroscopy Applied in Biology and Medicine
9
including the position, size and shape of the selected organelles [37]. Changes occurring during the cell cycle, cell death, drug–cell interactions, proliferation differentiation [38–40], or the interaction of cells with various chemicals and materials,
can be measured at the biochemical level with high spatial and time resolution.
In the recent years biomedical vibrational spectroscopy has been used to investigate lifestyle diseases, called also diseases of civilization. Lifestyle diseases can
include Alzheimer’s disease, atherosclerosis, asthma, cancer, chronic liver disease or
cirrhosis, type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, metabolic syndrome and many others. Appropriate quantitative approach using Raman or/and infrared spectroscopy combined
with chemometric analysis allows to estimate degree of the disease progression.
one direction of the research is focused on the origin, development, treatment,
and prevention of cancer—both at the tissue and cellular level. Cancer is one of
the most deadly diseases, which modern medicine does not fully understand and is
not able to heal. Early detection of cancer through screening based on imaging is
probably the major contributor of reduction in mortality for certain cancers. Future
developments using Raman spectroscopy and nanoparticles targeted to tumor biomarkers are promising [41]. Raman spectroscopy combined with confocal microscopy can be used for early detection of cancer [42–45] or the analysis of the tumor
morphology [46, 47]. Raman and infrared spectroscopy seems to be a promising
tool in the diagnosis of bladder [48, 49], prostate [50–52], stomach [53], larynx
[54], tonsil [55], lung [56, 57], breast [58–62] and esophagus [63] cancers, as well
as basal cell carcinoma [64–65].
Since the first measurements of living cells were achieved by Puppels et al. [66],
Raman microspectroscopy was used as a non-invasive and non-destructive tool for
probing single living cancer cell while preserving cell integrity and functions, such
as adhesion and proliferating capacities. Application of Raman spectroscopy to celldrug interaction allows for better and faster exploring of disease mechanisms, dependencies and seeking a cure for cancer.
Alzheimer’s disease (Ad) is a terminal form of dementia resulting from progressive degeneration of the neurons. So far its causes are unknown. Some papers
suggest that application of Ft-IR spectroscopy could be used in the pathological
diagnosis of Ad for the classifcation of Ad brain tissue (e.g. grey matter), neurotic plaques in the brains, structural characterization β-sheet structure in amyloid
fibrils, tau protein and Ad-paired helical fragments [67]. Nevertheless because of
the penetration depth of infrared light in the tissue (approx. 10 µm) infrared absorption spectroscopy cannot be used for non-invasive diagnosis of Ad in vivo. For the
diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer’s disease near-IR Raman spectroscopy is
a potentially attractive technique because in this system light can penetrate quite
deeply into tissue. mizuno et al. [68], reported a non-destructive examination of
human brain tissues and several kinds of brain tumors using near-infrared excited
Fourier transform (NIR-Ft) Raman spectroscopy. NIR-Ft Raman spectra of Ad
brain tissue show distinct differences from normal tissue spectra that can be used to
distinguish Ad from normal brain.
A leading cause of death affecting almost one third of humans in developed countries is atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease involving degenerative-
9
including the position, size and shape of the selected organelles [37]. Changes occurring during the cell cycle, cell death, drug–cell interactions, proliferation differentiation [38–40], or the interaction of cells with various chemicals and materials,
can be measured at the biochemical level with high spatial and time resolution.
In the recent years biomedical vibrational spectroscopy has been used to investigate lifestyle diseases, called also diseases of civilization. Lifestyle diseases can
include Alzheimer’s disease, atherosclerosis, asthma, cancer, chronic liver disease or
cirrhosis, type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, metabolic syndrome and many others. Appropriate quantitative approach using Raman or/and infrared spectroscopy combined
with chemometric analysis allows to estimate degree of the disease progression.
one direction of the research is focused on the origin, development, treatment,
and prevention of cancer—both at the tissue and cellular level. Cancer is one of
the most deadly diseases, which modern medicine does not fully understand and is
not able to heal. Early detection of cancer through screening based on imaging is
probably the major contributor of reduction in mortality for certain cancers. Future
developments using Raman spectroscopy and nanoparticles targeted to tumor biomarkers are promising [41]. Raman spectroscopy combined with confocal microscopy can be used for early detection of cancer [42–45] or the analysis of the tumor
morphology [46, 47]. Raman and infrared spectroscopy seems to be a promising
tool in the diagnosis of bladder [48, 49], prostate [50–52], stomach [53], larynx
[54], tonsil [55], lung [56, 57], breast [58–62] and esophagus [63] cancers, as well
as basal cell carcinoma [64–65].
Since the first measurements of living cells were achieved by Puppels et al. [66],
Raman microspectroscopy was used as a non-invasive and non-destructive tool for
probing single living cancer cell while preserving cell integrity and functions, such
as adhesion and proliferating capacities. Application of Raman spectroscopy to celldrug interaction allows for better and faster exploring of disease mechanisms, dependencies and seeking a cure for cancer.
Alzheimer’s disease (Ad) is a terminal form of dementia resulting from progressive degeneration of the neurons. So far its causes are unknown. Some papers
suggest that application of Ft-IR spectroscopy could be used in the pathological
diagnosis of Ad for the classifcation of Ad brain tissue (e.g. grey matter), neurotic plaques in the brains, structural characterization β-sheet structure in amyloid
fibrils, tau protein and Ad-paired helical fragments [67]. Nevertheless because of
the penetration depth of infrared light in the tissue (approx. 10 µm) infrared absorption spectroscopy cannot be used for non-invasive diagnosis of Ad in vivo. For the
diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer’s disease near-IR Raman spectroscopy is
a potentially attractive technique because in this system light can penetrate quite
deeply into tissue. mizuno et al. [68], reported a non-destructive examination of
human brain tissues and several kinds of brain tumors using near-infrared excited
Fourier transform (NIR-Ft) Raman spectroscopy. NIR-Ft Raman spectra of Ad
brain tissue show distinct differences from normal tissue spectra that can be used to
distinguish Ad from normal brain.
A leading cause of death affecting almost one third of humans in developed countries is atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a chronic disease involving degenerative-