Clinical use of mass spectrometry (imaging) for hard tissue analysis in abnormal fracture healing

Sylvia P. Nauta, Martijn Poeze, Ron M. A. Heeren*, Tiffany Porta Siegel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal(Systematic) Review article peer-review

Abstract

Common traumas to the skeletal system are bone fractures and injury-related articular cartilage damage. The healing process can be impaired resulting in non-unions in 5-10% of the bone fractures and in post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) in up to 75% of the cases of cartilage damage. Despite the amount of research performed in the areas of fracture healing and cartilage repair as well as non-unions and PTOA, still, the outcome of a bone fracture or articular cartilage damage cannot be predicted. Here, we discuss known risk factors and key molecules involved in the repair process, together with the main challenges associated with the prediction of outcome of these injuries. Furthermore, we review and discuss the opportunities for mass spectrometry (MS) an analytical tool capable of detecting a wide variety of molecules in tissues - to contribute to extending molecular understanding of impaired healing and the discovery of predictive biomarkers. Therefore, the current knowledge and challenges concerning MS imaging of bone and cartilage tissue as well as in vivo MS are discussed. Finally, we explore the possibilities of in situ, real-time MS for the prediction of outcome during surgery of bone fractures and injury-related articular cartilage damage.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)897-913
Number of pages17
JournalClinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
Volume58
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2020

Keywords

  • abnormal fracture healing
  • in vivo mass spectrometry
  • mass spectrometry imaging (MSI)
  • non-union
  • post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA)
  • REAL-TIME ANALYSIS
  • POSTTRAUMATIC OSTEOARTHRITIS
  • SUBCHONDRAL BONE
  • RISK-FACTORS
  • IN-VIVO
  • BIOLOGICAL TISSUES
  • MOLECULAR ASPECTS
  • CARTILAGE
  • IDENTIFICATION
  • NONUNION

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