Raman spectroscopy (RS) is a valuable tool for non-destructive qualitative and quantitative analysis of numerous biogenic materials. Characteristic examples are presented in this work and include characterization of urinary stones, encrusted deposits of stents and bone tissue. In the case of urinary stones the application of RS was capable of analyzing the mineral components of different layers of a urinary stone and the results were compared to those obtained by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). FTIR and RS were also used in order to characterise the encrusted deposits formed onto a metallic thermosensitive prostatic stent. In the third example FT-Raman spectroscopy was used to assess the compositional changes that were induced by ovariectomy to tibiae of female wistar rats. It was found that the mineral and organic phase Raman intensities of the osteoporotic bones reduced compared to healthy controls, following the same trend as the values obtained from the application of peripheral quantitative computer tomography on the same bones proving that Raman spectroscopy can be an additional valuable tool for studying osteoporosis.
(EL)
University of Patras
