Computer Assisted Examination of Infrared and Near Infrared Spectra to Assess Structural and Molecular Changes in Biological Samples Exposed to Pollutants: A Case of Study

Mauro Mecozzi,Elena Sturchio

doi:10.3390/jimaging3010011

Abstract

We present a computer assisted method for the examination of the structural changes present in the probe organism Vicia faba exposed to inorganic arsenic, detected by means of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Fourier transform near infrared (FTNIR) spectroscopy. Like the common ecotoxicological tests, the method is based on the comparison among control and exposed sample spectra of the organisms to detect structural changes caused by pollutants. Using FTIR spectroscopy, we measured and plotted the spectral changes related to the unsaturated to saturated lipid ratio changes (USL), the lipid to protein ratio changes (LPR), fatty and ester fatty acid content changes (FA), protein oxidation (PO) and denaturation, and DNA and RNA changes (DNA-RNA). Using FTNIR spectroscopy, we measured two spectral ranges that belonged to hydrogen bond interactions and aliphatic lipid chains called IntHCONH and Met1overt, respectively. The FTIR results showed that As modified the DNA-RNA ratio and also caused partial protein denaturation in the Vicia faba samples. The FTNIR results supported the FTIR results. The main advantage of the proposed computational method is that it does not require a skilled infrared or near infrared operator, lending support to conventional studies performed by toxicological testing.

Highlights

Modern ecotoxicology is focused on the study of the interactions among organisms and pollutants with special emphasis on the comprehension of their biological response to pollutant exposures.In these fields of study, novel techniques based on vibrational spectroscopy such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Fourier near infrared (FTNIR) have been proposed because the biomolecules of the living organisms consist of polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids, molecules that have significantFTIR and Fourier transform near infrared (FTNIR) absorptions [1]
The proposed method based on the computer assisted examination of FTIR and FTNIR spectra bands of the –CH3 and –CH2 groups of aliphatic chains in lipid compounds (Table 2)
This change is allows the easy and fast investigation of molecular changes and damages caused in living cells by significant, and agrees with the lipid disorder already observed by the FTIR spectroscopy pollutant exposures

Summary

Introduction

Modern ecotoxicology is focused on the study of the interactions among organisms and pollutants with special emphasis on the comprehension of their biological response to pollutant exposures.In these fields of study, novel techniques based on vibrational spectroscopy such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Fourier near infrared (FTNIR) have been proposed because the biomolecules of the living organisms consist of polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids, molecules that have significantFTIR and FTNIR absorptions [1]. Modern ecotoxicology is focused on the study of the interactions among organisms and pollutants with special emphasis on the comprehension of their biological response to pollutant exposures. In these fields of study, novel techniques based on vibrational spectroscopy such as Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Fourier near infrared (FTNIR) have been proposed because the biomolecules of the living organisms consist of polysaccharides, proteins, and lipids, molecules that have significant. Using vibrational spectroscopic techniques such as FTIR and FTNIR, these changes can be visualized by means of band shifts, band shape, and peak intensity (both increase or decrease) changes.

Results

Discussion

Conclusion