Raman reveals the radical damage that other techniques cannot see.
Italian researchers have shown that Raman spectroscopy could be a useful tool in investigating radical-based damage to proteins.
Armida Torreggiani, Maurizio Tamba, Immacolata Manco, M.R. Faraone-Mennella, Carla Ferreri, and C. Chatgilialoglu of the ISOF Institute of the National Research Council in Bologna and Naples University have investigated the gamma-irradiation of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease A (RNase A) in aqueous solution using vibrational spectroscopy as well as enzymatic assay, electrophoresis, and HPLC analysis. They found that Raman spectroscopy in particular could reveal conformational changes in the protein and locate the amino acid residues most susceptible to radical attack.