title: Early detection of biomolecular changes in disrupted porcine cartilage using polarized Raman spectroscopy.
abstract: We evaluate the feasibility of applying polarized Raman spectroscopy in probing the early biochemical compositions and orientation changes in impacted porcine cartilage explants. We divide 100 fresh tibial cartilage explants into four groups: control (unimpacted) and 3 groups of single impact at 15, 20, and 25 MPa. Each group is examined for biochemical changes using Raman microscopy, cell viability changes using confocal fluorescence microscopy, and histological changes using the modified Mankin score. For the 15-MPa impact group, the modified Mankin score (p>0.05, n=15) and cell viability test (p>0.05, n=5) reveal no significant changes when compared to the control, but polarized Raman spectroscopy detects significant biochemical changes. A significant decrease in the parallel polarized intensity of the pyranose ring band at 1126 cm(-1) suggests a possible decrease in the glycoaminoglycan content in early cartilage damage (one-way analysis of variance with a post hoc Bonferonni test, p<0.05, n=10). For impacts greater than 15 MPa, cell viability and modified Mankin score are consistent with the changes in the observed polarized Raman signals. This suggests that the polarized Raman spectroscopy technique has potential for diagnosis and detection of early cartilage damage at the molecular level.
authors.affiliation: National University of Singapore, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Bioengineering, Optical Bioimaging Laboratory, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Singapore 119074.
authors.forename: Natalie Sheng Jie
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Zaribafzadeh
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hamed
authors.forename: Chen Hua
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Yeow
authors.forename: Casey
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000032:analysis*; D002357:Cartilage Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism*; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods*; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods*; D013552:Swine
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers