Advancing non-destructive sex determination on human dental enamel using Raman spectroscopy.

Area of Science:

• Forensic Anthropology
• Biomolecular Analysis
• Archaeological Science

Background:

• Biological sex determination is crucial for analyzing human skeletal remains in forensic science, anthropology, and archaeology.
• Current methods for sex estimation can be destructive or impractical for certain sample types.
• Dental enamel offers a durable and potentially informative substrate for non-destructive analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the efficacy of Raman spectroscopy as a non-destructive method for biological sex estimation using intact human dental enamel.
• To identify sex-specific spectral markers within dental enamel.
• To develop a reliable model for sex determination based on these spectral differences.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 88 human teeth from 47 modern individuals using Raman spectroscopy.
• Application of Orthogonal Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (OPLS-DA) to identify spectral patterns.
• Development of a logistic regression model incorporating key Raman shift wavenumbers (373, 1182, 1600 cm⁻¹).

Main Results:

• OPLS-DA model demonstrated high performance (R²Y(cum)=0.943, Q²Y(cum)=0.895).
• Logistic regression model achieved high accuracy: ROC-AUC of 0.98, sensitivity of 0.87, and specificity of 0.94.
• Sex-specific spectral differences in dental enamel were identified, potentially linked to amelogenin protein variations.

Conclusions:

• Raman spectroscopy provides a rapid, non-destructive, and reliable method for biological sex estimation from human dental enamel.
• This technique is particularly valuable for archaeological and forensic contexts where sample integrity is paramount.
• The findings suggest subtle molecular composition differences in enamel can serve as reliable sex discriminators.