| Description: |
Infrared (IR) absorbance of cellular biomolecules generates a vibrational spectrum, which can be exploited as a “biochemical fingerprint ” of a particular cell type. Biomolecules absorb in the mid-IR (2–20 μm) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy applied to discriminate different cell types (exfoliative cervical cytology collected into buffered fixative solution) was evaluated. This consisted of cervical cytology free of atypia (i.e. normal; n = 60), specimens categorised as containing low-grade changes (i.e. CIN1 or LSIL; n = 60) and a further cohort designated as high-grade (CIN2/3 or HSIL; n = 60). IR spectral analysis was coupled with principal component analysis (PCA), with or without subsequent linear discriminant analysis (LDA), to determine if normal versus low-grade versus high-grade exfoliative cytology could be segregated. With increasing severity of atypia, decreases in absorbance intensity were observable throughout the 1,500 cm −1 to 1,100 cm −1 spectral region; this included proteins (1,460 cm −1), glycoproteins (1,380 cm −1), amide III (1,260 cm −1), asymmetric (ν as) PO 2 (1,225 cm |