Photoacoustic characterization of bone physico-chemical information.

Osteoporosis usually alters the chemical composition and physical microstructure of bone. Currently, most clinical techniques for bone assessment are focused on the either bone microstructure or bone mineral density (BMD). In this study, a novel multi-wavelength photoacoustic time-frequency spectral analysis (MWPA-TFSA) method was introduced based on the optical absorption spectra and photoacoustic effects of biological macromolecules, which evaluates changes in bone chemical composition and microstructure. The results demonstrated that osteoporotic bones had decreased BMD, more lipids, and wider trabecular separation filled with larger marrow clusters, which were consistent with multiple gold-standard results, suggesting that the MWPA-TFSA method has the potential to provide a thorough bone physico-chemical information evaluation noninvasively and nonradiatively.