Heat-induced Bone Diagenesis Probed by Vibrational Spectroscopy.

ABSTRACT: Complementary vibrational spectroscopic techniques - infrared, Raman and inelastic neutron scattering (INS) - were applied to the study of human bone burned under controlled conditions (400 to 1000?°C). This is an innovative way of tackling bone diagenesis upon burning, aiming at a quantitative evaluation of heat-induced dimensional changes allowing a reliable estimation of pre-burning skeletal dimensions. INS results allowed the concomitant observation of the hydroxyl libration (OH_libration), hydroxyl stretching (?(OH)) and (OH_libration?+??(OH)) combination modes, leading to an unambiguous assignment of these INS features to bioapatite and confirming hydroxylation of bone's inorganic matrix. The OH_lib, ?(OH) and ?₄(PO₄^3-) bands were identified as spectral biomarkers, which displayed clear quantitative relationships with temperature revealing heat-induced changes in bone's H-bonding pattern during the burning process. These results will enable the routine use of FTIR-ATR (Fourier Transform Infrared-Attenuated Total Reflectance) for the analysis of burned skeletal remains, which will be of the utmost significance in forensic, bioanthropological and archaeological contexts.

SUBMITTER: Marques MPM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6206023 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature