Raman spectroscopy technology to monitor the carotenoids in skin of thalassemia patients: a novel non-invasive tool relating oxidative stress with iron burden

Anna Maria Pintaudi,Maria Antonietta Livrea,Alessandro Attanzio,Aurelio Maggio,Luisa Tesoriere,Paolo Rigano,Anna Perrone

doi:10.4081/thal.2014.s1.1967

Abstract

Raman spectroscopy technology to monitor the carotenoids in skin of thalassemia patients: a novel non-invasive tool relating oxidative stress with iron burden

Highlights

A characteristic depletion of antioxidant defenses and oxidative stress are associated with hematologic disorders such as !-thalassemia,[1,2,3] with the iron burden to be considered the main reason of the redox imbalance
Our group first showed that the plasma levels of main antioxidant vitamins were decreased in thalassemia patients and inversely correlated with both ferritin and indices of liver damage, whereas a remarkably increased level of end-products from peroxidation of lipids and proteins showed a positive correlation with these parameters.[1]
A novel non-invasive Raman light scattering spectroscopy (RRS) has recently been developed to measure the level of skin carotenoids.[7,8,9,10]

Summary

Introduction

A characteristic depletion of antioxidant defenses and oxidative stress are associated with hematologic disorders such as !-thalassemia,[1,2,3] with the iron burden to be considered the main reason of the redox imbalance. Frequent blood transfusions and increased intestinal absorption of iron, after saturation of transferrin, favor the accumulation of highly reactive low molecular weight iron in cells (labile iron pool), followed by production of various reactive oxygen species (ROS) through Fenton chemistry, oxidation of cell components, impairment of cell functions, cell death and organ damage Though both liver and heart are principally involved in dramatic iron accumulation, heart failure due to myocardial iron overload is the most dreadful consequence of iron toxicity in thalassemia, because heart has less developed antioxidant defenses with respect to other organs.[4] In addition to iron overload tissue hypoxia, with damaging mitochondrial activity, will cause formation of ROS, contributing to the redox imbalance.[5]. These measurements have been matched with a non-invasive, and yet unexplored in clinical practice, evaluation of body’s oxidative stress through measurement of antioxidant carotenoids in skin,[7,8,9,10] by a spectroscopic method based on Raman technology.[11]

Methods

Results

Conclusion