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Raman microspectroscopic analysis of the tissue-specific composition of the human osteochondral junction in osteoarthritis : A pilot study

Das Gupta, Shuvashis LU orcid ; Finnilä, Mikko A.J. ; Karhula, Sakari S. ; Kauppinen, Sami ; Joukainen, Antti ; Kröger, Heikki ; Korhonen, Rami K. ; Thambyah, Ashvin ; Rieppo, Lassi and Saarakkala, Simo LU (2020) In Acta Biomaterialia 106. p.145-155
Abstract

This study investigates the influence of osteoarthritis (OA) disease severity on the bio-composition of the osteochondral junction at the human tibial plateau using Raman microspectroscopy. We specifically aim to analyze the spatial composition of mineralized osteochondral tissues, i.e., calcified cartilage (CC) and subchondral bone plate (SBP) from unfixed, hydrated specimens. We hypothesize that the mineralization of CC and SBP decreases in advanced OA. Twenty-eight cylindrical osteochondral samples (d = 4 mm) from tibial plateaus of seven cadaveric donors were harvested and sorted into three groups following histopathological grading: healthy (n = 5), early OA (n = 8), and advanced OA (n = 15). Raman spectra were subjected to... (More)

This study investigates the influence of osteoarthritis (OA) disease severity on the bio-composition of the osteochondral junction at the human tibial plateau using Raman microspectroscopy. We specifically aim to analyze the spatial composition of mineralized osteochondral tissues, i.e., calcified cartilage (CC) and subchondral bone plate (SBP) from unfixed, hydrated specimens. We hypothesize that the mineralization of CC and SBP decreases in advanced OA. Twenty-eight cylindrical osteochondral samples (d = 4 mm) from tibial plateaus of seven cadaveric donors were harvested and sorted into three groups following histopathological grading: healthy (n = 5), early OA (n = 8), and advanced OA (n = 15). Raman spectra were subjected to multivariate cluster analyses to identify different tissues. Finally, the tissue-specific composition was analyzed, and the impact of OA was statistically evaluated with linear mixed models. Cluster analyses of Raman spectra successfully distinguished CC and SBP as well as a tidemark region and uncalcified cartilage. CC was found to be more mineralized and the mineral was more crystalline compared with SBP. Both tissues exhibited similar compositional changes as a function of histopathological OA severity. In early OA, the mineralization tends to increase, and the mineral contains fewer carbonate substitutions. Compared with early OA, mineral crystals are rich in carbonate while the overall mineralization decreases in advanced OA. This Raman spectroscopic study advances the methodology for investigating the complex osteochondral junction from native tissue. The developed methodology can be used to elucidate detailed tissue-specific changes in the chemical composition with advancing OA. Statement of Significance: In this study, Raman microspectroscopy was utilized to investigate the influence of osteoarthritic degeneration on the tissue-specific biochemical composition of the human osteochondral junction. Multivariate cluster analyses allowed us to characterize subtle compositional changes in the calcified cartilage and subchondral bone plate as well as in the tidemark region. The compositional differences found between the calcified cartilage and subchondral bone plate in both organic and mineral phases will serve as critical benchmark parameters when designing biomaterials for osteochondral repair. We found tissue-specific changes in the mineralization and carbonate substitution as a function of histopathological OA severity. Our developed methodology can be used to investigate the metabolic changes in the osteochondral junction associated with osteoarthritis.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Calcified cartilage, Osteoarthritis, Osteochondral junction, Raman microspectroscopy, Tissue-mineralization
in
Acta Biomaterialia
volume
106
pages
11 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:32081781
  • scopus:85080859437
ISSN
1742-7061
DOI
10.1016/j.actbio.2020.02.020
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
id
ac4eae83-d215-472b-b21b-d9523a5e24f9
date added to LUP
2025-11-17 10:48:52
date last changed
2025-11-21 03:47:28
@article{ac4eae83-d215-472b-b21b-d9523a5e24f9,
  abstract     = {{<p>This study investigates the influence of osteoarthritis (OA) disease severity on the bio-composition of the osteochondral junction at the human tibial plateau using Raman microspectroscopy. We specifically aim to analyze the spatial composition of mineralized osteochondral tissues, i.e., calcified cartilage (CC) and subchondral bone plate (SBP) from unfixed, hydrated specimens. We hypothesize that the mineralization of CC and SBP decreases in advanced OA. Twenty-eight cylindrical osteochondral samples (d = 4 mm) from tibial plateaus of seven cadaveric donors were harvested and sorted into three groups following histopathological grading: healthy (n = 5), early OA (n = 8), and advanced OA (n = 15). Raman spectra were subjected to multivariate cluster analyses to identify different tissues. Finally, the tissue-specific composition was analyzed, and the impact of OA was statistically evaluated with linear mixed models. Cluster analyses of Raman spectra successfully distinguished CC and SBP as well as a tidemark region and uncalcified cartilage. CC was found to be more mineralized and the mineral was more crystalline compared with SBP. Both tissues exhibited similar compositional changes as a function of histopathological OA severity. In early OA, the mineralization tends to increase, and the mineral contains fewer carbonate substitutions. Compared with early OA, mineral crystals are rich in carbonate while the overall mineralization decreases in advanced OA. This Raman spectroscopic study advances the methodology for investigating the complex osteochondral junction from native tissue. The developed methodology can be used to elucidate detailed tissue-specific changes in the chemical composition with advancing OA. Statement of Significance: In this study, Raman microspectroscopy was utilized to investigate the influence of osteoarthritic degeneration on the tissue-specific biochemical composition of the human osteochondral junction. Multivariate cluster analyses allowed us to characterize subtle compositional changes in the calcified cartilage and subchondral bone plate as well as in the tidemark region. The compositional differences found between the calcified cartilage and subchondral bone plate in both organic and mineral phases will serve as critical benchmark parameters when designing biomaterials for osteochondral repair. We found tissue-specific changes in the mineralization and carbonate substitution as a function of histopathological OA severity. Our developed methodology can be used to investigate the metabolic changes in the osteochondral junction associated with osteoarthritis.</p>}},
  author       = {{Das Gupta, Shuvashis and Finnilä, Mikko A.J. and Karhula, Sakari S. and Kauppinen, Sami and Joukainen, Antti and Kröger, Heikki and Korhonen, Rami K. and Thambyah, Ashvin and Rieppo, Lassi and Saarakkala, Simo}},
  issn         = {{1742-7061}},
  keywords     = {{Calcified cartilage; Osteoarthritis; Osteochondral junction; Raman microspectroscopy; Tissue-mineralization}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  pages        = {{145--155}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Acta Biomaterialia}},
  title        = {{Raman microspectroscopic analysis of the tissue-specific composition of the human osteochondral junction in osteoarthritis : A pilot study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2020.02.020}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.actbio.2020.02.020}},
  volume       = {{106}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}