ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and chemometric complexity : unfolding the intra-skeleton variability

Zupanič-Pajnič, Irena (author), Leskovar, Tamara (author), Jerman, Ivan (author)

Spectroscopy of skeletal tissues is increasingly used in various fields, including legal medicine, forensic science, and archaeology. As it is fast and technically and financially affordable yet accurate and widely applicable, spectroscopy is often used when investigating skeletal tissues. Despite its usefulness, the heterogeneity of skeletal tissues highly affects their chemical composition and complicates the interpretation of the spectroscopy results. Though the research on the use of spectroscopy and skeletal tissues from various contexts is growing, little is known regarding the differences in the chemometric indices caused by intra-skeleton variability. Objectives The objectives were a comparison of the chemometric indices between teeth and bones, between different bone classes, and between the skeletal elements within a bone class as well as an attempt to correlate the observed similarities or differences in chemometric indices to the functional or structural differences of skeletal elements. Materials and Methods Different skeletal elements of three individuals were analysed with attenuated total reflectance (ATR)–Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and compared. Results Significant differences between the chemometric indices of the bones and teeth were observed and meaningfully correlated with their structural differences. Though more subtle and harder to understand, significant differences were also observed between and within the bone classes and were tentatively correlated with their structural and functional differences. Discussion The observed variability agrees with other studies that stress the importance of intra-skeleton variability, which should be acknowledged when using spectroscopy to investigate skeletal tissues.

• Language: English
• Keywords: ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, intra-skeletal variability, chemometrics, bone type, skeletal element
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts; MF - Faculty of Medicine
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 15 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 36, iss. 11, art. e3448
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-144338
• UDC: 61
• ISSN on article: 1099-128X
• DOI: 10.1002/cem.3448
• COBISS.SI-ID: 123441923
• Publication date in RUL: 15.02.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of chemometrics
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 1099-128X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 21825029

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
• Description: A creative commons license that bans commercial use, but the users don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: ATR-FTIR spektroskopija, znotrajskeletna variabilnost, kemometrija

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: J3-3080
• Name: Določitev predniškega porekla iz DNA za identifikacijske namene

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: 0581-012
• Name: Research Group Archaeology