Raman microspectroscopy of Hematoporphyrins. Imaging of the noncancerous and the cancerous human breast tissues with photosensitizers

•Raman microspectroscopy allows localization of photosensitizers in mammary gland specimens.•Based on Raman/fluorescence image information about the photo resistivity of photosensitizer can be obtained.•Specific subcellular localization of photosensitizer for breast tissues samples soaked with Hematoporphyrin is not observed.

Raman microspectroscopy combined with fluorescence were used to study the distribution of Hematoporphyrin (Hp) in noncancerous and cancerous breast tissues. The results demonstrate the ability of Raman spectroscopy to distinguish between noncancerous and cancerous human breast tissue and to identify differences in the distribution and photodegradation of Hematoporphyrin, which is a photosensitizer in photodynamic therapy (PDT), photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) and photoimmunotherapy (PIT) of cancer. Presented results show that Hematoporphyrin level in the noncancerous breast tissue is lower compared to the cancerous one. We have proved also that the Raman intensity of lipids and proteins doesn't change dramatically after laser light irradiation, which indicates that the PDT treatment destroys preferably cancer cells, in which the photosensitizer is accumulated. The specific subcellular localization of photosensitizer for breast tissues samples soaked with Hematoporphyrin was not observed.

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