Raman analysis of tissue engineered normal skin and melanoma

The usefulness of Raman spectroscopy for inspection of the human skin, engineered normal skin and melanoma models and the quality of its data for utilisation in dermatological research has been studied. Raman signatures of human and tissue engineered normal skin (frozen and wax embedded) were investigated to determine if the layers have distinct spectral regions which can be used for identification, and for the monitoring of the formation of these layers in engineered human skin equivalents in culture. Several spectral regions, including those associated with lipids and some protein markers, were isolated and shown to be features that can be used to monitor skin maturation. Raman signatures of engineered normal and melanoma models (frozen) were investigated to determine how the biochemical profile of melanoma tissue differs from engineered normal tissue which were used as a baseline. Changes were found in protein conformations and tryptophan configurations across the entire samples, in tyrosine and in more fluid lipid packing in tumour dense areas of melanoma, and in increases of glycogen content in the peri-tumour areas. These findings suggest Raman spectroscopy may be helpful to theoretical and experimental research on melanoma progression and clinical treatments.