This review presents the development of a Raman Tweezers system for detecting hemoglobin-related blood disorders at a single cell level. The study demonstrates that the molecular fingerprint insight provided by Raman analysis holds great promise for distinguishing between healthy and diseased cells in the field of biomedicine. Herein a Raman Tweezers system has been applied to investigate the effects of thalassemia, a blood disease quite diffuse in the Mediterranean Sea region. By resonant excitation of hemoglobin Raman bands, we examined the oxygenation capability of normal, alpha- and beta-thalassemic erythrocytes. A reduction of this fundamental red blood cell function, particularly severe for beta-thalassemia, has been found. Raman spectroscopy was also used to draw hemoglobin distribution inside single erythrocytes; the results confirmed the characteristic anomaly (target shape), occurring in thalassemia and some other blood disorders. The success of resonance Raman spectroscopy for thalassemia detection reported in this review provide an interesting starting point to explore the application of a Raman Tweezers system in the analysis of several blood disorders.
Keywords: Hb-related disorders; Raman Tweezers; biosensor; thalassemia.