Browsing by Author "Pinder, Sarah E."

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    Anisotropy visualisation from X-ray diffraction of biological apatite in mixed phase calcified tissue samples
    (Springer, 2025-02-14) Scott, Robert; Lyburn, Iain D.; Cornford, Eleanor; Bouzy, Pascaline; Stone, Nicholas; Greenwood, Charlene; Gosling, Sarah; Arnold, Emily L.; Bouybayoune, Ihsanne; Pinder, Sarah E.; Rogers, Keith
    X-ray diffraction is widely used to characterise the mineral component of calcified tissue. Broadening of the diffraction peaks yields valuable information on the size of coherently diffracting domains, sometimes loosely described as crystallite size or crystallinity. These domains are markedly anisotropic, hence a single number describing their size is misleading. We present a novel variation on a method for visualising crystallographic anisotropy in X-ray diffraction data. This provides an intuitively interpretable depiction of crystalline domain size and anisotropy. The new method involves creating a polar plot of calculated domain thickness for peaks in a diffractogram versus crystallographic direction. Points with the least error are emphasised. Anisotropic domain dimensions are calculated by refining an ellipsoidal model in a whole pattern fit. These dimensions are then used to overlay an ellipse on the peak broadening plot. This is illustrated by application of the method to calcifications in breast tissue with suspected cancer, which frequently contain whitlockite as well as nanocrystalline apatite. Like most biogenic apatite, this exhibits markedly anisotropic peak broadening. The nature of this anisotropy offers potentially useful information on normal function and pathology of calcified tissue and is a frequently neglected crystallographic feature of these materials.
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    Exploration of utility of combined optical photothermal infrared and Raman imaging for investigating the chemical composition of microcalcifications in breast cancer
    (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2023-02-21) Bouzy, Pascaline; Lyburn, Iain Douglas; Pinder, Sarah E.; Scott, Robert; Mansfield, Jessica; Moger, Julian; Greenwood, Charlene; Bouybayoune, Ihssane; Cornford, Eleanor; Rogers, Keith; Stone, Nick
    Microcalcifications play an important role in cancer detection. They are evaluated by their radiological and histological characteristics but it is challenging to find a link between their morphology, their composition and the nature of a specific type of breast lesion. Whilst there are some mammographic features that are either typically benign or typically malignant often the appearances are indeterminate. Here, we explore a large range of vibrational spectroscopic and multiphoton imaging techniques in order to gain more information about the composition of the microcalcifications. For the first time, we validated the presence of carbonate ions in the microcalcifications by O-PTIR and Raman spectroscopy at the same time, the same location and the same high resolution (0.5 μm). Furthermore, the use of multiphoton imaging allowed us to create stimulated Raman histology (SRH) images which mimic histological images with all chemical information. In conclusion, we established a protocol for efficiently analysing the microcalcifications by iteratively refining the area of interest.
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    Translating microcalcification biomarker information into the laboratory: a preliminary assessment utilizing core biopsies obtained from sites of mammographic calcification
    (Elsevier, 2024-03-12) Lyburn, Iain D.; Scott, Robert; Cornford, Eleanor; Bouzy, Pascaline; Stone, Nicholas; Greenwood, Charlene; Bouybayoune, Ihsanne; Pinder, Sarah E.; Rogers, Keith
    The potential of breast microcalcification chemistry to provide clinically valuable intelligence is being increasingly studied. However, acquisition of crystallographic details has, to date, been limited to high brightness, synchrotron radiation sources. This study, for the first time, evaluates a laboratory-based system that interrogates histological sections containing microcalcifications. The principal objective was to determine the measurement precision of the laboratory system and assess whether this was sufficient to provide potentially clinical valuable information. Materials and methods Sections from 5 histological specimens from breast core biopsies obtained to evaluate mammographic calcification were examined using a synchrotron source and a laboratory-based instrument. The samples were chosen to represent a significant proportion of the known breast tissue, mineralogical landscape. Data were subsequently analysed using conventional methods and microcalcification characteristics such as crystallographic phase, chemical deviation from ideal stoichiometry and microstructure were determined. Results The crystallographic phase of each microcalcification (e.g., hydroxyapatite, whitlockite) was easily determined from the laboratory derived data even when a mixed phase was apparent. Lattice parameter values from the laboratory experiments agreed well with the corresponding synchrotron values and, critically, were determined to precisions that were significantly greater than required for potential clinical exploitation. Conclusion It has been shown that crystallographic characteristics of microcalcifications can be determined in the laboratory with sufficient precision to have potential clinical value. The work will thus enable exploitation acceleration of these latent microcalcification features as current dependence upon access to limited synchrotron resources is minimized.