FTIR Spectral Analysis of Plasma Homocysteine Levels Among Smokers

Abstract

The present work aims to report application of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy for the analysis of blood plasma of smoker's inorder to detect spectral parameters which might serve as biomarker for identifying and detecting homocysteine levels. The analysis led to the identification of specific modes of vibration pertaining to homocysteine in blood plasma. The absorbance values at these specific modes of vibration were significantly increased for those smokers having elevated homocysteine levels when compared to healthy non-smokers with optimal levels of homocysteine. The internal ratio parameter was calculated using the absorbance values of the wavelength corresponding to specific modes of vibration. It provided an excellent classification between non-smokers and smokers with elevated homocysteine levels which correlated completely with the clinical data. These parameters could be used as a basis for deriving a spectral method for determining and measuring plasma homocysteine spectroscopically.