Document Type
Article
Rights
Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence
Disciplines
3. MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
Abstract
Carotenoid compounds are ubiquitous in nature, providing the characteristic colouring of many algae, bacteria, fruits and vegetables. They are a critical component of the human diet and play a key role in human nutrition, health and disease. Therefore, the clinical importance of qualitative and quantitative carotene content analysis is increasingly recognised. In this review, the structural and optical properties of carotenoid compounds are reviewed, differentiating between those of carotenes and xanthophylls. The strong non-resonant and resonant Raman spectroscopic signatures of carotenoids are described, and advances in the use of Raman spectroscopy to identify carotenoids in biological environments are reviewed. Focus is drawn to applications in nutritional analysis, optometry and serology, based on in vitro and ex vivo measurements in skin, retina and blood, and progress towards establishing the technique in a clinical environment, as well as challenges and future perspectives, are explored.
DOI
https://doi.org/ 10.3390/molecules27249017
Recommended Citation
Udensi, J., Loughman, J. & Loskutova, E. (2022). Raman Spectroscopy of Carotenoid Compounds for Clinical Applications—A Review. Molecules, vol. 27, no. 9017. doi:10.3390/molecules27249017