New methodologies for the quantification of the consituens of bone by Raman spectroscopy

Abstract

Bone is a composite material consisting of inorganic material (biological apatite), embedded in an organic matrix (collagen type I). Both functionality and integrity of bone are related to those constituents. The mineral gives bone tissue mechanical strength while collagen is responsible for its elasticity. Pathological conditions like osteoporosis, osteopetrosis, osteomalacia are related chemical composition changes of the tissue. In the current study, an attempt was made to quantify both mineral and organic component simultaneously in a fast and accurate way, by employing Raman Spectroscopy. Two approaches were followed: one using peak ratios and a second implementing chemometric analysis. Results showed that calibration models based on ratios of the 961 cm-1 vibration for apatite to the 1667 cm-1 for collagen and the chemometric analysis of the obtained spectra exhibited similar ability of prediction but chemometric model was characterized by superior accuracy.