Basic study of the esterification ratio measurement using near-infrared spectroscopy as a new pathological diagnostic method of atherosclerotic plaque

We studied analytic method of the near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy to obtain the esterification ratio in cholesterols to develop new pathological diagnostic methodology for atherosclerotic plaque. Optical phantoms of cholesterols were made by cholesterol powders of free cholesterol (FC) and cholesteryl oleate as cholesteryl ester (CE). We found that the 1^st derivative diffuse reflectance absorbance ranging 1450±20 nm has linear relation with the esterification ratio of the optical phantoms. The possibility of the pathological diagnosis of the atherosclerotic plaque using the esterification ratio that obtained by the information of 1^st derivative reflection absorbance ranging1450±20 nm was suggested.