Raman Spectroscopy as a Biomarker-Investigative Tool in Bone Metabolism

Abstract

Bone is a living material with a composite structure that endures long and repetitive shocks caused by walking or jumping. Currently, clinical imaging modalities do not completely characterize the quality of bone. Additionally, these approaches are inadequate for detecting the earliest disease stages, for determining the age, or for verifying the treatment impact. Raman spectroscopy is an easy technique that provides a fingerprint of the chemical and structural composition of bone. Thus, it allows the determination of biomarkers for the quantification of bone quality and to qualify the evolution with physiological changes and diseases as in osteoporosis and osteogenesis imperfecta. Keywords Bone biomarkers • Bone quality • Mineralization • Crystallinity • Collagen maturity • Osteogenesis imperfecta • Osteoporosis • Raman spectroscopy 2 C. Bosser et al. mass. In the USA, 70 % of women above 80 years old are suffering from the disease. • Osteogenesis imperfecta is a genetic bone disease associated with increased bone fragility due to a defective collagen matrix and impaired mineralization. In the USA, there are 20,000-50,000 patients suffering from the disease. • Therapies with bisphosphonates are used for osteoporosis as well as for osteogenesis imperfecta to effectively prevent fractures and increase bone mineral density.

In Vivo Assessment of Skin Surface Pattern: Exploring Its Potential as an Indicator of Bone Biomechanical Properties

“…Additionally, the effects of patient age and various pathologies have been investigated [15][16][17][18][19]. Recent studies have benefited from the development of new experimental laboratory techniques for material characterization, thus allowing more samples to be analyzed while achieving unprecedented experimental resolutions [20][21][22][23][24][25].…”