Near Infrared Raman Spectroscopic Study of Reactive Gliosis and the Glial Scar in Injured Rat Spinal Cords

摘要

Comparative Raman spectra of ex vivo, saline-perfused, injured and healthy rat spinal cord as well as experiments using enzymatic digestion suggest that proteoglycan over expression may be observable in injured tissue. Comparison with authentic materials in vitro suggest the occurrence of side reactions between products of cord digestion with chondroitinase (cABC) that produce lactones and similar species with distinct Raman features that are often not overlapped with Raman features from other chemical species. Since the glial scar is thought to be a biochemical and physical barrier to nerve regeneration, this observation suggests the possibility of using near infrared Raman spectroscopy to study disease progression and explore potential treatments ex vivo and if potential treatments can be designed, perhaps to monitor potential remedial treatments within the spinal cord in vivo.