Prognostic potential and pathological validation of a diagnostic application using Raman spectroscopy in the characterization of degenerative changes in the cartilage of the humeral head

Ryuji Asaoka; Hiroshi Kiyomatsu; Hiromasa Miura; Akihiro Jono; Tomofumi Kinoshita; Masaki Takao; Takashi Katagiri; Yusuke Oshima

doi:10.1117/1.JBO.27.11.115002

10 November 2022 Prognostic potential and pathological validation of a diagnostic application using Raman spectroscopy in the characterization of degenerative changes in the cartilage of the humeral head

Ryuji Asaoka, Hiroshi Kiyomatsu, Hiromasa Miura, Akihiro Jono, Tomofumi Kinoshita, Masaki Takao, Takashi Katagiri, Yusuke Oshima

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Journal of Biomedical Optics, Vol. 27, Issue 11, 115002 (November 2022). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.27.11.115002

Abstract

Significance

Raman spectroscopy is a well-established analytical method in the fields of chemistry, industry, biology, pharmaceutics, and medicine. Previous studies have investigated optical imaging and Raman spectroscopy for osteoarthritis (OA) diagnosis in weight-bearing joints such as hip and knee joints. However, to realize early diagnosis or a curable treatment, it is still challenging to understand the correlations with intrinsic factors or patients’ background.

Aim

To elucidate the correlation between the Raman spectral features and pathological variations of human shoulder joint cartilage.

Approach

Osteoarthritic cartilage specimens excised from the humeral heads of 14 patients who underwent shoulder arthroplasty were assessed by a confocal Raman microscope and histological staining. The Raman spectroscopic dataset of degenerative cartilage was further analyzed by principal component analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis.

Results

Multivariate association of the Raman spectral data generated three major clusters. The first cluster of patients shows a relatively high Raman intensity of collagen. The second cluster displays relatively low Raman intensities of proteoglycans (PGs) and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), whereas the third cluster shows relatively high Raman intensities of PGs and GAGs. The reduced PGs and GAGs are typical changes in OA cartilage, which have been confirmed by safranin–O staining. In contrast, the increased Raman intensities of collagen, PGs, and GAGs may reflect the instability of the cartilage matrix structure in OA patients.

Conclusions

The results obtained confirm the correlation between the Raman spectral features and pathological variations of human shoulder joint cartilage. Unsupervised machine learning methods successfully yielded a clinically meaningful classification between the shoulder OA patients. This approach not only has potential to confirm severity of cartilage defects but also to determine the origin of an individual’s OA by evaluating the cartilage quality.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Ryuji Asaoka, Hiroshi Kiyomatsu, Hiromasa Miura, Akihiro Jono, Tomofumi Kinoshita, Masaki Takao, Takashi Katagiri, and Yusuke Oshima "Prognostic potential and pathological validation of a diagnostic application using Raman spectroscopy in the characterization of degenerative changes in the cartilage of the humeral head," Journal of Biomedical Optics 27(11), 115002 (10 November 2022). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.27.11.115002

Received: 3 September 2022; Accepted: 21 October 2022; Published: 10 November 2022

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