Molecular analysis of the destruction of articular joint tissues by Raman spectroscopy

Abstract

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a highly heterogenous disease influenced by different molecular, anatomic and physiologic imbalances. Some of the bottlenecks for enhanced diagnosis and therapeutic assessment are the lack of validated biomarkers and early diagnosis tools. In this narrative review, we analyze the potential of Raman spectroscopy (RS) as a label-free optical tool for the characterization of articular joint tissues and its application as a diagnosis tool for OA.Areas covered: Raman spectra produce a unique "molecular fingerprint" providing rotational and vibrational molecular information, allowing the identification and follow-up of molecular changes associated with OA pathological mechanisms. Focusing on multiple joint tissues (cartilage, synovium, bone, tendons, ligaments and meniscus) and their contribution in disease incidence and progression, this review highlights the current knowledge on the application of RS in the characterization of organic and inorganic molecules present at these tissues and alterations that occur in the onset of OA.Expert Opinion: Vibrational spectroscopy techniques, such as RS, are low cost, rapid and minimally invasive approaches that offer high specificity in the assessment of the molecular composition of complex tissues. Combined with multivariate statistical methods, RS offers great potential for optical biomarkers discovery or disease diagnosis applications, and we hereby discuss clinical translational progresses on the field.

Raman Spectroscopy and Machine Learning Enables Estimation of Articular Cartilage Structural, Compositional, and Functional Properties

“…This deformation band was demonstrated by Beiroa et al as an indirect index for assessing the progression of radiological OA [ 38 ]. For classifier C3 (moderate vs. severe), selected features comprised mostly of collagen-related peaks with the addition of phosphate-apatite peak [ 39 ], which is indicative of tissue mineralization—a process discriminating between moderate and severely damaged cartilage [ 18 ].…”

“…Applications of RS in biomedical engineering are rapidly increasing [ 17 ]. Various studies [ 17 , 18 ] have mapped Raman peaks in biological tissues to their underlying structures (e.g., functional groups, bonding types, and molecular conformations). Raman peaks are relatively narrow, easy to resolve, and sensitive to molecular structure, conformation, and environment, thus resulting in high chemical specificity [ 19 ].…”

Spatial analysis of the osteoarthritis microenvironment: techniques, insights, and applications

“… 51 In addition to its application in the analysis of bone and cartilage, Raman spectroscopy has been employed for OA stratification using synovial fluid 57 and synovium. 58 However, acquiring in situ spatial imaging comparable to the resolution of MRI or computed tomography remains challenging with Raman spectroscopy.…”

Synovial fluid research based on SERS and SERRS for enhanced detection of biomarkers in staged osteoarthritis

“…At present, the biochemical analysis of SF can be carried out by various methods, such as infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, etc., but they have the problems of low efficiency or high cost. Therefore, Raman spectroscopy has great potential in the biochemical analysis of SF due to its advantages of simple sample preparation, no influence of water, high efficiency, and low cost [19,20]. However, Raman spectra of SF are too weak to be detected by the conventional Raman spectroscopic technique [21][22][23].…”