In vivo study on the protection of indole-3-carbinol (13C) against the mouse acute alcoholic liver injury by micro-Raman spectroscopy

Micro-Raman spectroscopy (MRS) was utilized for the first time to evaluate the effect of indole-3-carbinol (13C) on acute alcoholic liver injury in vivo. In situ Raman analysis of tissue sections provided distinct spectra that can be used to distinguish alcoholic liver injury as well as ethanol-induced liver fibrosis from the normal state. Sixteen mice with liver diseases including acute liver injury and chronic liver fibrosis, and eight mice with normal liver tissues, and eight remedial mice were studied employing the Raman spectroscopic technique in conjunction with biomedical assays. The biochemical changes in mouse liver tissue when liver injury/fibrosis occurs such as the loss of reduced glutathione (GSH), and the increase of collagen (alpha-helix protein) were observed by MRS. The intensity ratio of two Raman peaks (I-1450/I-666) and in combination with statistical analysis of the entire Raman spectrum was found capable of classifying liver tissues with different pathological features. Raman spectroscopy therefore is an important candidate for a nondestructive in vivo screening of the effect of drug treatment on liver disease, which potentially decreases the time-consuming clinical trials. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.