Study on the pathological and biomedical characteristics of spinal cord injury by confocal Raman microspectral imaging

• Published in: Spectrochimica acta. Part A, Molecular and biomolecular spectroscopy Vol. 210; pp. 148 - 158
• Main Authors: Li, Jie, Liang, Zhuowen, Wang, Shuang, Wang, Zhe, Zhang, Xu, Hu, Xueyu, Wang, Kaige, He, Qingli, Bai, Jintao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 05.03.2019
• Subjects: Animals; Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans - chemistry; Cluster Analysis; Confocal Raman microspectral imaging; Female; Hemoglobins - chemistry; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods; Lipids - chemistry; Multivariate Analysis; Multivariate analysis algorithms; Pathological progression; Principal Component Analysis; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Spectrum Analysis, Raman - methods; Spinal Cord - chemistry; Spinal Cord - pathology; Spinal Cord Injuries - diagnostic imaging; Spinal Cord Injuries - pathology; Spinal cord injury; Time Factors; Confocal Raman microspectral imaging; Multivariate analysis algorithms; Spinal cord injury; Pathological progression
• ISSN: 1386-1425; 1873-3557
• DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2018.11.022

Confocal Raman microspectral imaging (CRMI) in combination with multivariate analysis was used to study pathological progression after spinal cord injury (SCI). By establishing moderate contusion in rat models, ex vivo longitudinal spinal cord tissue sections were prepared for microspectroscopic analysis. Comparative studies were then performed to determine the pathological distinctions among before injury (BI), one day post-injury (1 DPI), seven days post-injury (7 DPI), and 14 days post-injury (14 DPI) groups. Multivariate analysis algorithms, including K-mean cluster analysis (KCA) and principal component analysis (PCA), were conducted to highlight biochemical and structural variations after tissue damage. It is confirmed that typical spectral features and profiles can illustrate some fundamental and significant pathological processes post-injury, such as neuron apoptosis, hemorrhage, demyelination, and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) upregulation. Further, by establishing spectra-structure correlations, the reconstructed spectral images revealed some minute and important morphological characteristics following tissue injury, such as glial scar formation surrounding the cavity structure. The observed spectral phenomena also provide a detailed view on relevant pathobiological factors, which are involved in the spread of secondary damage after traumatic spinal cord injury. Our findings not only provide a spectral perspective to the well-known cellular mechanisms underlying SCI, but further provide a sound basis for developing real-time Raman methodologies to evaluate the prognostic factors and therapeutic results of SCI. [Display omitted] •Pathological progressions after spinal cord injury were studied by confocal Raman microspectral imaging.•By establishing contusion model in rats, comparative spectroscopic studies were implemented.•Multivariate analyses were adopted to highlight biochemical variations after tissue damage.•The spread of secondary damage was illustrated by the spectral features.