Biochemical fingerprints show diabetes progression

Image : Department of chemistry [FSU]

A new method of studying biochemical changes that occur in the pancreas during the development of diabetes is based on molecular spectroscopy and can be used to extract biochemical profiles containing information about disease progression.

The method could facilitate improved understanding of the mechanistic processes on molecular and cellular levels that are key to the development of diabetes. The method uses vibrational microspectroscopic technology, including Fourier Transform Infrared FT-IR and Raman microspectroscopy.

Different compounds have unique molecular vibrations that can be detected using infrared light or laser. These vibrations contain information about the sample's chemical composition, including molecular characteristics, prevalence and structure.

The method can be used to determine which and how cell types are affected in a certain tissue. Pancreas is a key organ for the development of diabetes, the method for multivariate statistical analysis enables researchers to handle multiple variables simultaneously and analyze complex data from vibrational microspectroscopy of the pancreas.

The method can discover unknown biochemical changes in the pancreas during disease development and changes in the tissue. It can also create biochemical fingerprints of all changes occurring in the pancreas. The fingerprints show the cell type, animal model it comes from and how far the disease has progressed.

Biomedical fingerprints method can be used to analyze both mice and human pancreas without the need to obtain tissue samples. Pancreatic tissue called Islets of Langerhans may be studied in the living organism. The method can be used to develop better prognostic and diagnostic tools for diabetes.

Credit: Umea University