Enhancing FTIR imaging capabilities with two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2DCOS): A study of concentration gradients of collagen and proteoglycans in human patellar cartilage

This paper explores a new application of two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2DCOS) in FTIR spectroscopic imaging analysis of biological samples. A particular example demonstrated in this paper is the characterization of concentration gradients of collagen and proteoglycans in human patellar cartilage. A focal plane array detector-based FTIR imaging system has been proven to be an efficient tool to detect early collagen and proteoglycans degradation in developing osteoarthrosis through evaluating compositional changes of osteoarthritic cartilage along the depth. However, the closely overlapped bands of collagen and proteoglycans make normal spectral and spatial analysis difficult. With 2DCOS analysis of the imaging data, it is possible to enhance the spectral resolution and reveal distinctive compositional changes that are normally hidden with conventional approaches. The combined technique, FTIR imaging enhanced with 2DCOS, provides new possibilities to solve challenging problems in the analysis of complex biological systems.