Small and Large Molecules Investigated by Raman Spectroscopy

This chapter presents selected techniques of Raman spectroscopy, i.e. Raman imaging, Raman optical activity (ROA), and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), and gives an overview on their biomedical applications. The current state of the art in the research on chiroptical compounds of biomedical importance, as well as the study on early apoptosis and inflammation processes occuring in the endothelium, is presented. The pathophysiology of the endothelium is discussed based on the example of Raman imaging results for primary cells and cell cultures. Moreover, the comparison of classical Raman imaging, application of optical fiber probes, and immuno-SERS nanosensors in detection of marker proteins in ex vivo studies is discussed.