Bridging biomolecules with nanoparticles: surface‐enhanced Raman scattering from colon carcinoma and normal tissue

In order to get insight into the chemical heterogeneities of solid tumors, here we report the first surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) experiment from normal and altered epithelial layer in human colon carcinoma tissues. The Ag colloidal nanoparticles that can be incorporated into the interstitial space in solid tumors or those penetrating into cytoplasm or nucleus of many cells allowed high quality SERS signal. Different tissue structures of tumor and normal colon have characteristic features in SERS spectra. Prominent SERS features of malignant tissue spectra are related to the strong enhancement of the bands preponderantly attributable to DNA or RNA bases. The preliminary studies demonstrate that it is possible to probe Ag colloidal nanoparticles adsorption onto the tissue resulting in a strong molecular signaling with high specificity and rapid acquisition time using visible laser line excitation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Depth‐resolved in vivo micro‐Raman spectroscopy of a murine skin tumor model reveals cancer‐specific spectral biomarkers

We have developed a micro‐Raman spectrometer system for use to differentiate tumor lesions from normal skin using an in vivo animal model. A study of 494 Raman spectra from 24 mice revealed different spectral patterns at different depths and between normal and tumor‐bearing skin sites. A peak at 899 cm⁻¹ (possibly from proline or fatty acids) and one with higher intensity in the 1325–1330 cm⁻¹ range (assigned to nucleic acids) were correlated with the presence of tumors, which can potentially be used as biomarkers for skin cancer detection. Spectral diagnosis performed on the murine tumor model achieved a diagnostic sensitivity of 95.8% and specificity of 93.8%. These results encourage us to develop further the use of confocal Raman spectroscopy as a clinical tool for noninvasive human skin biochemical analysis, particularly in relation to skin cancer. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Quantitative analysis of sugar composition in honey using 532‐nm excitation Raman and Raman optical activity spectra

Raman spectroscopy based on the 1064‐nm laser excitation was suggested as a handy non‐invasive technique allowing to quickly determine sugar content in honey and similar food products. In the present study, the green 532‐nm laser radiation is explored instead as it provides higher‐quality spectra in a shorter time. The sample fluorescence was quenched by purification with activated carbon. For control mixture decomposition of Raman spectra to standard subspectra led to a typical error of the sugar content of 3%. Raman optical activity (ROA) spectra that could be measured at the shorter excitation wavelength as well provided a lower accuracy (~8%) than the Raman spectra because of instrumental sensitivity and noise limitations. The results show that Raman spectroscopy provides elegant and reliable means for fast analyses of sugar‐based food products. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonlinearity in Intensity versus Concentration Dependence for the Deep UV Resonance Raman Spectra of Toluene and Heptane

Abstract: The relation between Raman scattering, resonance Raman scattering, and absorption is reviewed to determine to what extent quantitative analysis can be applied in resonance Raman spectroscopy. In addition, it is demonstrated experimentally that normal Raman spectra can be dramatically inhibited by absorption and resonance Raman effects. Raman spectra of toluene and heptane mixtures—with progressively increasing concentrations of heptane—were measured using 229-nm laser excitation. The results show that the characteristic band intensities are not directly proportional to the relative concentrations of the compounds and deviate due to absorption resonance effects. An approximated mathematical model is developed to demonstrate that the intensities of the normal Raman scattering bands are suppressed. An inhibition coefficient K_i is introduced to describe the situation and determine the penetration depth. Most remarkably, it is shown that the intensity of the resonance Raman scattering bands can be constant even when the concentration ratios differ substantially in the sampled mixtures.     

Evaluation of Raman spectroscopy for prediction of antitumor response to silibinin and its nanoparticulates in DMBA‐induced oral carcinogenesis

Raman spectroscopy is a vibrational spectroscopic technique that can be used to monitor the therapeutic efficacy of anticancer drugs during carcinogenesis in a non‐invasive and label‐free manner. The present study aims to investigate the biochemical changes exerted upon free silibinin (SIL) and its nanoparticulate (SILNPs) treatment against 7,12‐dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)‐induced oral carcinogenesis in the fingerprint region of 1800–500 cm⁻¹ using HE‐785 Raman spectrometer. Raman spectra differed significantly between the control and tumor tissues, with tumor tissues characterized by increased intensities of vibrational bands such as nucleic acids, phenylalanine and tryptophan and a lower percentage of lipids when compared to the control tissues. Further, oral administration of free SIL and SILNPs significantly increased lipids and decreased the levels of tryptophan, phenylalanine and nucleic acid contents. Overall, the treatment of nanoparticulate SIL was found to be a more potent antitumor effect than free SIL in preventing the formation of tumor and also brought back the several Raman bands to a normal range in the buccal mucosa of hamsters during DMBA‐induced oral carcinogenesis. In addition, the detailed secondary structure of proteins in the control and experimental groups is also presented. Furthermore, the diagnostic algorithms based on principal component linear discriminant analysis (PC‐LDA) achieved an overall sensitivity of 94–100% and specificity of 76–100%. These results further demonstrate that Raman spectroscopy associated with PC‐LDA diagnostic algorithms could be a valuable tool for rapid and sensitive detection of specific biomolecular changes at the molecular level in response to anticancer drug. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Raman spectroscopy at different excitation wavelengths (1064, 785 and 532 nm) as a tool for diagnosis of colon cancer

Raman spectroscopy is structure sensitive non‐destructive method that allows observing the status of biological tissues with minimal impact. This method has a great potential in the diagnosis of various types of degenerative diseases including cancer damages. Near‐infrared Fourier transform (NIR‐FT)‐Raman (λ_ex ~1064 nm), NIR‐visible (Vis)‐Raman (λ_ex ~785 nm) and Vis‐Raman (λ_ex ~532 nm) spectra of normal and colorectal carcinoma colon tissue samples were recorded in macroscopic mode at 10–20 randomly chosen independent sites. In the cases of NIR‐Vis‐ and Vis‐Raman spectra, enhanced resonance effects were observed for tissue chromophores absorbing in the visible area. Evident spectral differences were noticed for Raman spectra of normal colon tissue samples in comparison with abnormal samples. The average Raman spectra of colon tissue samples were analysed by principal component analysis (PCA) to discriminate normal and abnormal tissues. PCA of combined dataset containing Raman intensities of chosen NIR‐FT, NIR‐Vis or Vis‐Raman bands led to discrimination of normal and abnormal colon tissue samples. Therefore, combination of these three Raman methods can be helpful for recognizing cancer lesions in colon for diagnostic purposes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

人肝癌组织细胞的激光光镊拉曼光谱研究

激光光镊与拉曼光谱相结合形成的激光光镊拉曼光谱系统(LTRS)已用于分析生物组织标本,可对单个活细胞进行操控和光谱收集。从拉曼光谱特征峰位置、强度和线宽可得到有关细胞的组成、结构及细胞内物质相互作用的信息。文章应用LTRS系统,分析了来自人的恶性肝癌组织的不同病变部位标本,包括肝癌组织细胞、肝癌癌旁细胞和远离肝癌组织的肝脏正常的组织细胞,观察到了随肝癌的病变部位变化所出现的一些有趣的拉曼光谱峰的变化。正常的肝组织细胞在1 070和1 266 cm-1处的峰很明显,而肝癌和肝癌癌旁组织细胞的这两个峰则不明显,肝正常组织细胞的1 445 cm-1峰明显高于肝癌和肝癌癌旁组织细胞。已知1 070 cm-1峰代表脂类和核酸,1 266和1 445 cm-1峰代表脂类和蛋白。引起这些峰变化的物质很可能参与了肝癌的发生。上述初步研究结果表明：单细胞激光光镊拉曼光谱可以区分肝癌的不同病变部位,将是检测和分析肝癌组织标本的一种很好的方法。     

Comparison of molecular images as defined by Raman spectra between normal mucosa and squamous cell carcinoma in the oral cavity

Raman spectroscopy has been effectively applied to clinically differentiate normal and cancerous mucosal tissues. Micro‐Raman spectroscopy provides a tool to better understand the molecular basis for the Raman clinical signal. The objective of the current study was to utilize micro‐Raman spectroscopy to define the molecular/spectral differences between normal and abnormal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in oral mucosa (in vitro). Understanding this may help in identifying unique spectra or may be useful for in vivo application of this technology. Micro‐Raman (confocal) spectroscopy was used to obtain molecular images of normal and SCC cells of human oral mucosa. Four fresh flashed‐frozen tumor and four matched normal tongue specimens were studied. The spectra covered a wavenumber range from 300 to 4000 cm⁻¹ with a spectral resolution of 8 cm⁻¹ and a spatial resolution of 1.0 µm. The cells were located within thin sections of tongue mucosa biopsies. The excitation wavelength of 515 nm was used. We were able to obtain Raman images with rich information about the spectroscopic and structural features within the cytoplasm, cell membrane, and cell nuclei. Significant spectral differences were observed between the Raman images of normal and malignant squamous cells. The heterogeneity of tumor cells within the abnormal tissue was also demonstrated. Spectral differences demonstrated between both tissue types have provided important information regarding the origins of specific signals within the cells of each tissue type. In our search for specific spectral biomarkers, we believe that a cell surface protein, greatly upregulated in SCC cells, was discovered at 1583 cm⁻¹. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

聚吡咯修饰的金纳米棒对肿瘤的光学相干层析成像的影响

聚吡咯(PPy)制备简单、生物相容性好,且在近红外(NIR)光谱范围内有很强的吸收,可作为一种良好的光热治疗试剂;同时,其NIR光吸收性质也可用于增强光学相干层析成像(OCT)的对比效果。因此,采用PPy对传统的OCT对比试剂——金纳米棒(GNR)进行表面修饰,有望获得对比效果更好且生物毒性较小的新型OCT对比试剂。选用吡咯为起始原料,在GNR表面进行一步简单的氧化聚合反应即可制备得到PPy修饰的金纳米棒(GNR-PPy)。利用紫外-可见吸收光谱,拉曼光谱和透射电子显微镜对制备的样品进行了分析和表征。构建小鼠荷瘤模型,以研究GNR-PPy对肿瘤OCT图像对比度的增强效果。采用中心波长为840 nm的OCT系统对注射了纳米粒子的肿瘤区域进行OCT成像。结果表明,肿瘤组织注射了GNR-PPy后,OCT信号衰减非常明显;与注射了GNR的OCT图像相比,840 nm光在GNR-PPy的OCT图像中的穿透深度明显更低。从OCT图像中抽提出一维的衰减曲线对OCT图像进行定量分析,发现注射有GNR-PPy肿瘤组织的OCT信号衰减系数明显高于注射了GNR的组织。表明,相对于GNR,GNR-PPy具有更好的OCT信号对比效果,这在增强肿瘤成像效果方面具有潜在应用价值。     

拉曼光谱技术在病理诊断中的研究进展

拉曼光谱技术能够提供与物质特定分子结构相关的光谱信息,可用于识别生物组织微小的生化变异,具有快速、实时、无损、无需样本预处理等优点,在临床病理诊断领域极具应用前景。与常规组织病理学分析相比,拉曼光谱技术能够直接检测活体组织,简化了分析程序,缩短了诊断时间。人体病变组织的细胞分子组成和结构可能发生变化,这为拉曼光谱技术在组织病理诊断中的应用提供了检测依据。基于组织分子组成与结构的差异,结合机器学习和化学计量学方法,拉曼光谱技术可以提供客观的诊断信息,实现快速、低侵入的病理诊断。回顾了近十年来拉曼光谱技术在组织病理诊断中的研究进展,对取得的关键成果进行了总结,阐述了当前离体和活体应用拉曼光谱技术的一些关键问题。针对离体拉曼光谱检测,重点评估福尔马林固定石蜡包埋样本、冷冻样本和新鲜组织样本等离体样本的适用情况;阐述拉曼光谱数据收集的关键技术,包括适用光源、光谱范围,以及病理样本光谱采集的方式等。对于活体拉曼光谱检测,重点介绍了活体检测研究中拉曼光谱技术应用的两种形式：结合医用内窥镜进行体内检测,以及开放手术中的直接检测;综述了临床适用的拉曼系统,重点介绍了当前活体拉曼研究中应用的光纤探头。同时,文章也讨论了拉曼光谱数据的处理与分析方法,通过光谱预处理,特征提取与分类识别,构建拉曼光谱病理诊断模型,在小样本范围能够获得较好的诊断结果。考虑临床实际应用,仍需要不断优化分析方法,实现拉曼光谱与生化信息的关联,将样本个体差异的影响纳入分类模型中,以提升模型性能。文章对拉曼光谱应用于病理诊断中的关键问题进行了讨论,为进一步开展研究提供参考。未来需要更深入和广泛地开展离体和活体研究,以促进拉曼光谱技术在临床中的应用。     

Shedding light onto the spectra of lime: Raman and luminescence bands of CaO,Ca(OH)2 and CaCO3

In microscopy studies of 19^th‐century cement stone, we found free lime in the form of darkened spherical structures, as they were described in the literature already. When trying to determine their phase composition by Raman spectroscopy, we encountered contradictive assignments in literature spectra of the lime phases CaO, Ca(OH)₂ and CaCO₃ and observed strong spectral features that have been ignored or erroneously assigned so far. In this study we present Raman spectra of pure lime phases and of a naturally grown calcite crystal, burnt limestone (quick lime, mainly CaO), aged slaked lime putty (mainly Ca(OH)₂), and carbonated lime putty (mainly CaCO₃). Based on the results, we shed light mainly onto these two questions: (1) Does CaO have a Raman spectrum? (2) Which features in the spectra are luminescence bands that could be (and already have been) misinterpreted as Raman bands? We proof our assignment of luminescence bands in lime phases by using three different laser wavelengths for excitation, and give hypotheses on the origin of the luminescence as well as practical advices on how to identify these misleading features in Raman spectra. This article is mainly addressed to users of Raman spectroscopy in different fields of material analysis who might not be aware of the presence of interfering bands in their spectra. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中红外光纤技术用于腮腺肿瘤诊断的研究

采用傅里叶变换红外光谱法与中红外光导纤维联用技术对１１例肿瘤，７例正常腮腺和１例舍格伦综合症的红外光谱进行了对比研究。结果发现正常腮腺和舍格伦综合症的红外光谱很相似，而与肿瘤的光谱存在着明显差别，同时也观察到良性与恶性肿瘤的光谱在若干波段处也有所不同．     

Raman spectroscopic investigation of frozen and deparaffinized tissue sections of pediatric tumors: neuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma

Raman spectroscopy is a nondestructive technique that can provide information at the molecular level about the biochemicals in tissues. We have investigated the cellular regions in neuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma using Raman spectroscopy and compared their spectral characteristics with those of the corresponding normal adrenal gland. Thin sections from both the frozen and the corresponding formalin‐fixed paraffin‐processed (FFPP) tissues were studied in conjunction with the pathological examination of the tissues. Investigation of the spectral data shows that the normal adrenal gland tissues have higher levels of carotenoids, lipids, and cholesterol compared with the neuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma frozen tissues. However, in comparison with the frozen tissues, the FFPP tissues show a significant alteration of several biochemicals, including the complete removal of carotenoids, lipids, and cholesterol in the adrenal tissues. A quantitative analysis using chemometric methods of principal component analysis and discriminant function analysis of the Raman spectral data obtained from the frozen tissues show a clear‐cut classification among pathological groups with high sensitivity and specificity. We have validated the classification results of the FFPP tissues against a training set data obtained from the archived FFPP tissues of nine other patients. The validation process correctly identified and grouped the data with the training set of normal adrenal gland (>97% of the time) and neuroblastoma (100% of the time) tissues, whereas the validation was not so strong for ganglioneuroma. This study shows that Raman spectroscopy combined with chemometric methods can be successfully used to distinguish neuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma at cellular level in frozen tissue sections. This study also shows that formalin fixation and paraffinization/deparaffinization of tissues can alter their biochemical composition. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Near infrared Raman spectroscopic characterization of blood plasma of normal,oral premalignant and malignant conditions—a pilot study

The metabolic end products from cells/tissues that are released into the circulating blood stream and any changes in their level because of pathological conditions may be used as markers in disease diagnosis. Raman spectroscopy has been exploited to characterize the biomolecules present in the blood plasma of clinically confirmed normal group, premalignant (Oral Sub Mucous Fibrosis) and malignant (Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma) at 784.15 nm. Raman spectral signatures show relatively less intense Raman bands of phenylalanine, lipid and antioxidant beta carotene but higher intense bands for proteins, DNA base components and amino acids (tyrosine and tryptophan) for malignant group than that of normal group. However premalignant group possess high intense Raman bands for amino acids (tyrosine and tryptophan) at 830, 1020 and 1620 cm⁻¹ and protein peaks at 913, 978 and 1646 cm⁻¹ when compared to that of malignant and normal group. Principal component analysis coupled with linear discriminant analysis (PCA‐LDA) yielded a diagnostic sensitivity of 96.3% and 91.2%, and a specificity of 80.0% and 96.7% in the classification of normal from premalignant and normal from malignant, respectively. This indicates that Raman spectroscopy of blood plasma has the potential in classifying normal and oral malignancy conditions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of laser excitation wavelength and optical mode on Raman spectra of human fresh colon,pancreas, and prostate tissues

Early cancer detection is the central and most important factor for allowing successful treatment and resultant positive long‐term patient outcomes. Recently, optical techniques have been applied to this purpose, although each has inherent limitations. In particular, Raman spectroscopy applied in the pathological diagnosis of cancerous tissues has received increasing attention, with the merit of being highly sensitive to the biochemical alterations in tissue compositions and applicable in vivo. Nevertheless, its application has been impeded by the high background intensity, which masks the Raman signal of biological molecules. In this work, the influence of laser excitation wavelength (785 vs. 830 nm) and optical mode (single mode vs. multimode) on the background intensity of fresh human tissues was studied. Based on the results, laser with 830 nm excitation demonstrated better background reduction than that with 785 nm excitation for the same optical mode, but the Raman signal intensity was conversely reduced, and the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) not improved. In contrast, by comparing single‐mode and multimode 785 nm excitations, it was shown that the single‐mode laser with its smaller beam waist and beam propagation factor had better background reduction ability and an improvement of the SNRs. It is speculated that this decrease in background intensity comes from the effect of the optical mode on the Mie scattering from the biological tissue. High‐quality spectra based on a careful selection of both laser excitation wavelength and optical mode will benefit Raman measurements in further research focusing on spectral interpretation and histopathological correlation ultimately aimed toward intraoperative applications. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Research on the Raman spectral character and diagnostic value of squamous cell carcinoma of oral mucosa

Early diagnosis of oral carcinomas is essential for successful treatment. The purpose of the present study is to apply near‐infrared Raman spectroscopy to detect oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and leukoplakia (OLK), in order to establish the diagnostic model of the Raman spectra of oral diseases. We collected Raman spectra of normal, OLK and SCC by near‐infrared Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy. The biochemical variations between different lesions were analyzed by the characteristic bands in the subtracted mean spectra. Gaussian radial basis function support vector machines (SVM) were used to classify spectra and establish the diagnostic models. Major differences were observed in the range between 800 and 1800 cm⁻¹. Compared with normal mucosa, high contents of protein, DNA and lipid in SCC and OLK were observed, but the difference between OLK and normal tissue was not as much as that between normal and SCC. SVM displayed a powerful ability in the classifying of normal and SCC, and the specificity, sensitivity and accuracy were 100, 97.56 and 98.75%, respectively. In discriminating between the OLK and normal groups, the three parameters were 85, 68 and 72.5%. The algorithm showed good ability in grouping and modeling of OLK and SCC, and the three parameters were 95, 97.43 and 96.25%. Combined with SVM, near‐infrared Raman spectroscopy can detect biochemical variations in oral normal mucosa, OLK and SCC, and establish diagnostic models accurately. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implementation of a novel low‐noise InGaAs detector enabling rapid near‐infrared multichannel Raman spectroscopy of pigmented biological samples

Pigmented tissues are inaccessible to Raman spectroscopy using visible laser light because of the high level of laser‐induced tissue fluorescence. The fluorescence contribution to the acquired Raman signal can be reduced by using an excitation wavelength in the near infrared range around 1000 nm. This will shift the Raman spectrum above 1100 nm, which is the principal upper detection limit for silicon‐based CCD detectors. For wavelengths above 1100 nm indium gallium arsenide detectors can be used. However, InGaAs detectors have not yet demonstrated satisfactory noise level characteristics for demanding Raman applications. We have tested and implemented for the first time a novel sensitive InGaAs imaging camera with extremely low readout noise for multichannel Raman spectroscopy in the short‐wave infrared (SWIR) region. The effective readout noise of two electrons is comparable to that of high quality CCDs and two orders of magnitude lower than that of other commercially available InGaAs detector arrays. With an in‐house built Raman system we demonstrate detection of shot‐noise limited high quality Raman spectra of pigmented samples in the high wavenumber region, whereas a more traditional excitation laser wavelength (671 nm) could not generate a useful Raman signal because of high fluorescence. Our Raman instrument makes it possible to substantially decrease fluorescence background and to obtain high quality Raman spectra from pigmented biological samples in integration times well below 20 s. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infrared spectra of thyroid tumor tissues

We used infrared spectroscopy methods to study thyroid tumor tissues removed during surgery. The IR spectra of the surgical material are compared with data from histological examination. We show that in malignant neoplasms, the spectra of proteins in the region of C=O vibrations are different from the spectra of these substances in benign tumors and in tissues outside the pathological focus at a distance >1 cm from the margin of the tumor. The differences in the spectra are due to changes in the supermolecular structure of the proteins, resulting from rearrangement of the system of hydrogen bonds. We identify the spectral signs of malignant pathologies.     

Infrared spectra of proteins and lipids in human breast malignant tissues

IR spectroscopy methods have been adopted for investigating resected tissues of mammary glands. IR spectra of surgical material are compared with histological data. Spectra of proteins and lipids in malignant tumors are shown to be different from those in benign tumors and in tissues outside the pathologically impacted volume. Differences in the protein spectra are due to changes in the supramolecular structure because of the cleavage of intramolecular C=O⋅⋅⋅H–N H-bonds. Spectral signatures of malignant pathologies are identified. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 76, No. 2, pp. 261–266, March–April, 2009.     

The effect of spectral resolution on the Raman spectra of polyaromatic hydrocarbons and beta‐carotene mixtures

The spectroscopic basis for extraterrestrial life‐detection through the molecular signatures of relevant biomaterials is dependent upon several instrumental facilities which could effect the diagnostic interpretation of key Raman bands from relevant substances occurring together in the geological record. To this effect, the Raman spectra of several polyaromatic hydrocarbons have been investigated under different conditions of spectral resolution using FT‐Raman‐spectroscopy operating at 1064 nm laser excitation wavelength. The observed Raman spectra are considerably altered under different conditions of spectral resolution; in particular, the discrimination between several polyaromatic hydrocarbons and beta‐carotene no longer becomes possible as the spectral resolution decreases. These results are relevant for the evaluation of miniaturised Raman spectrometers for space flight missions and incorporation into instrumentation for landers and rovers being proposed for future missions to Mars. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.