In vivo analysis of tissue by Raman microprobe:: examination of human skin lesions and esophagus Barrett's mucosa on an animal model

In the last few years, Raman spectroscopy has been increasingly used for the characterization of normal and pathological tissues. A new Raman system, constituted of optic fibers bundle coupled to an axial Raman spectrometer (Horiba Jobin Yvon SAS), was developed for in vivo investigations. Here, we present in vivo analysis on two tissues: human skin and esophagus mucosa on a rat model. The skin is a directly accessible organ, representing a high diversity of lesions and cancers. Including malignant melanoma, basal cell carcinoma and the squamous cell carcinoma, skin cancer is the cancer with the highest incidence worldwide. Several Raman investigations were performed to discriminate and classify different types of skin lesions, on thin sections of biopsies. Here, we try to characterize in vivo the different types of skin cancers in order to be able to detect them in their early stages of development and to define precisely the exeresis limits. Barrett's mucosa was also studied by in vivo examination of rat's esophagus. Barrett's mucosa, induced by gastroesophageal reflux, is a pretumoral state that has to be carefully monitored due to its high risk of evolution in adenocarcinoma. A better knowledge of the histological transformation of esophagus epithelium in a Barrett's type will lead to a more efficient detection of the pathology for its early diagnosis. To study these changes, an animal model (rats developing Barrett, s mucosa after duodenum - esophagus anastomosis) was used. Potential of vibrational spectroscopy for Barrett' s mucosa identification is assessed on this model.