[Applications and progress of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic microimaging in bone disease research]

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIRS) and microimaging technique have been integrated together to evolve into Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic imaging (FTIRI) system. This system can provide not only the morphological information of the sample by visible image and FTIR image, but also the abundant information on the spectral, component and structure of specimen by FTIRS, especially of the heterogeneous solid mixture. The richer and more visualized information obtained by FTIRI greatly raised the research efficiency and usability of the spectral technique in biomedicine, pharmacology, forensic medicine, material science and chemistry, etc. The present paper depicts FTIRI development process, system structure, imaging principle and mode selection; and then introduces that FTIRI opened a new area of investigation for biomedicine, namely, research on bone disease by FTIRI. Then the paper illustrates the related research findings and progress in FTIRI use for osteopetrosis, osteogenesis imperfecta, osteoporosis and osteomalacia, as well as a couple of limitations. The prospective study for FTIRI in biomedical research field is also addressed.