Issue 19, 2024

New insights into lipid and fatty acid metabolism from Raman spectroscopy

Abstract

One of the challenges facing biology is to understand metabolic events at a single cellular level. While approaches to examine dynamics of protein distribution or report on spatiotemporal location of signalling molecules are well-established, tools for the dissection of metabolism in single living cells are less common. Advances in Raman spectroscopy, such as stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), are beginning to offer new insights into metabolic events in a range of experimental systems, including model organisms and clinical samples, and across a range of disciplines. Despite the power of Raman imaging, it remains a relatively under-used technique to approach biological problems, in part because of the specialised nature of the analysis. To raise the profile of this method, here we consider some key studies which illustrate how Raman spectroscopy has revealed new insights into fatty acid and lipid metabolism across a range of cellular systems. The powerful and non-invasive nature of this approach offers a new suite of tools for biomolecular scientists to address how metabolic events within cells informs on or underpins biological function. We illustrate potential biological applications, discuss some recent advances, and offer a direction of travel for metabolic research in this area.

Graphical abstract: New insights into lipid and fatty acid metabolism from Raman spectroscopy

Article information

Article type
Minireview
Submitted
13 Jun 2024
Accepted
03 Sep 2024
First published
05 Sep 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Analyst, 2024,149, 4789-4810

New insights into lipid and fatty acid metabolism from Raman spectroscopy

J. C. Greig, W. J. Tipping, D. Graham, K. Faulds and G. W. Gould, Analyst, 2024, 149, 4789 DOI: 10.1039/D4AN00846D

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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