Dr. Li: Identification of spermatogenesis in a rat sertoli-cell-only model using raman spectroscopy: a feasibility study.

Osterberg EC, Laudano M, Ramasamy R, Sterling J, Robinson B, Goldstein M, Li PS, Schlegel PN. Identification of spermatogenesis in a rat sertoli-cell-only model using raman spectroscopy: a feasibility study. J Urol, 2014; 191(4): e741 – e742. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Urologic Association, Orlando, FL.

Introductions and Objectives
To determine if Raman spectroscopy (RS) can identify spermatogenesis in a Sertoli-cell-only (SCO) rat model.

Methods
A SCO model was created using a testicular hypothermia-ischemia technique. Bilateral testis biopsy was performed on 4 rats. Raman spectra were acquired with a probe on 1 mm samples of testicular tissue. India ink was used to mark the site of spectral acquisition. Comparative histopathology was used to verify whether Raman spectra were obtained from SCO or seminiferous tubules with spermatogenesis. Principal component analysis (PCA) and logistic regression were used to develop a mathematical model to evaluate the predictive accuracy of identifying tubules with spermatogenesis vs. SCO tubules.

Results
Raman peak intensity changes were noted at 1000 cm-1 and 1690 cm-1 between tubules with spermatogenesis and SCO tubules. When wavelengths were utilized to predict whether seminferious tubules were SCO or had spermatogenesis, sensitivity and specificity were estimated as 96% and 100% respectively. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve for predicting tubules with spermatogenesis was 0.98.

Conclusions
RS is capable of identifying seminiferous tubules with spermatogenesis in a SCO ex-vivo rat model. Future ex-vivo studies on human testicular tissue will be necessary to confirm whether these findings can be translated into a clinical setting.