Resumo

BARRAZA-GARZA, Guillermo et al. La microespectroscopía de infrarrojo con transformada de Fourier (FTIRM) en el estudio de sistemas biológicos. Rev. latinoam. quím [online]. 2013, vol.41, n.3, pp.125-148. ISSN 0370-5943.

Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (FTIRM) is a recent technique that, over the last decade, has become more popular for the study of biological systems. It is the result of the union between FTIR spectroscopy and optical microscopy. The use of synchrotron radiation offers a significant gain in terms of brightness but recent developments on optics (ATR) and detectors (FPA) allow as well an important expansion of the technique in laboratories. In both cases, micrometric resolution can be reached. The generated optical image allows studying a particular area and uses the mid-infrared radiation (2.5 to 15 µm/ 4000 to 650 cm^-1) to detect vibrational movements from the molecular groups present in biological samples. FTIRM results allow us to observe the biochemical state of a sample, and provide us with information about all molecules present therein, allowing identification, semi-quantification and precise localization of one or more relevant molecules. In this way it is possible to identify cells from different species or in different metabolic stages, or to analyze the biochemical changes generated in the samples under diverse experimental conditions. This review aims to inform about FTIRM, giving a general prospect of the technique and citing several studies made with it in various biological systems.

Palavras-chave : infrared; microspectroscopy; FTIRM; spectroscopy; biological systems.