Chemical visualization of individual chondrocytes in articular cartilage by attenuated-total-reflection Fourier Transform Infrared Microimaging.

Fourier transform infrared imaging (FTIRI) and the attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared microimaging (ATR-FTIRM) were used to study the chemical and structural distributions of cellular components surrounding individual chondrocytes in canine humeral cartilage, at 6.25µm pixel resolution in FTIRI and 1.56µm pixel resolution in ATR-FTIRM. The chemical and structural distributions of the cellular components in chondrocytes and tissue can be successfully imaged in high resolution ATR-FTIRM. One can also study the territorial matrix of fine collagen fibrils surrounding the individual chondrocytes by the polarization experiments using the absorption ratio of amide I to amide II bands.