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Updated: Jul 25, 2026

Non-contact, Label-free Monitoring of Cells and Extracellular Matrix using Raman Spectroscopy
Published on: May 29, 2012
A decade of vibrational micro-spectroscopy of human cells and tissue (1994-2004)
M Diem1, M Romeo, S Boydston-White
1Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry, City University of New York, Hunter College, 695 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA. mdiem@hunter.cuny.edu
Abstract:
Instrumentation used in infrared microspectroscopy (IR-MSP) permits the acquisition of spectra from samples as small as 100 pg (10(-10) g), and as small as 1 pg for Raman microspectroscopy (RA-MSP). This, in turn, allows the acquisition of spectral data from objects as small as fractions of human cells, and of small regions of microtome tissue sections. Since vibrational spectroscopy is exquisitely sensitive to the biochemical composition of the sample, and variations therein, it is possible to monitor metabolic processes in tissue and cells, and to construct spectral maps based on thousands of IR spectra collected from pixels of tissue. These images, in turn, reveal information on tissue structure, distribution of cellular components, metabolic activity and state of health of cells and tissue.
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