Vibrational Spectroscopic Analysis of Hard Tissues

Hard tissues such as bone, enamel, and dentin are composite materials with a highly complex hierarchical structure based on an organic matrix and embedded mineral particles. The first section will summarize the hard tissue components that are detectable by vibrational spectroscopic analysis and their role. The next section will describe why it is important to image hard tissues as a function of tissue age as well as specimen age, and which biologically relevant questions may be answered using vibrational spectroscopic techniques. The next two sections will provide an overview of the application of Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and Raman to the analysis of hard tissues. The final section will cover clinical applications of this type of analysis.