Vol.2, No.2, 158-169 (2011) doi:10.4236/jbpc.2011.22020 Copyright © 2011 SciRes. Openly accessible at http://www.scirp.org/journal/JBPC/ Journal of Biophysical Chemistry Hydrogen bonds of interfacial water in human breast cancer tissue compared to lipid and DNA interfaces Halina Abramczyk 1* , Beata Brozek-Pluska 1 , Jakub Surmacki 1 , Joanna Jablonska-Gajewicz 2 , Radzislaw Kordek 2 1 Laboratory of Laser Molecular Spectroscopy, Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry, Technical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland; *Corresponding Author: abramczy@mitr.p.lodz.pl 2 Medical University of Lodz, Department of Pathology, Chair of Oncology, Lodz, Poland; Received 22 February 2011; revised 17 March 2011; accepted 6 April 2011. ABSTRACT The paper presents the results for water con- fined in a human breast cancerous tissue, a single stranded DNA, a double stranded DNA and in phospholipids (DPPC—D--Phosphati- dylcholine, dipalmitoyl). The interfacial water in DNA and lipids is represented by a double band in the region of the OH stretching mode of water corresponding to the symmetric and asym- metric vibrational modes, in contrast to water confined in the cancerous breast tissue where only one band at 3311 cm –1 has been recorded. The marked red-shift of the maximum peak po- sition of the OH stretching mode confirms that the vibrational properties of the interfacial water observed in restricted biological environment differ drastically from those in bulk water. The change of vibrational pattern of behavior may be due to the decoupling of the vibrations of the OH bonds in water molecule or change of the vibrational selection rules at biological inter- faces. According to our knowledge Raman vi- brational properties of water confined in the normal and cancerous breast tissue of the same patient have not been reported in literature yet. Here we have also presented the first Raman ‘optical biopsy’ images of the non-cancerous and cancerous (infiltrating ductal cancer) hu- man breast tissues. Keywords: H-Bond; Lipids; Breast Cancer; Raman Imaging; Interfacial Water; Vibrational Spectroscopy 1. INTRODUCTION The properties of water have always been a central subject of investigation. The basic motivation behind such studies is the role of water in biological activity of most molecular processes such as protein-DNA interac- tions or activity of biological lipid membranes [1-4]. The biological activity depends on stability, structure, and dynamics of water at biological interfaces. The molecu- lar processes in the restricted environments are largely dominated by interactions, vibrational energy transfer, orientation of water molecules, which differ drastically from those of bulk water properties. The confinement of water in biological structures does not represent a single pattern of behavior. For example, water confined in re- verse micelles [5-9] differs from water confined in phospholipid membranes [10] or in DNA interfaces [3]. The biological interfaces play an important role in a variety of vital reactions involved in protein interactions, enzyme catalysis, molecular recognition, and various steps of proton and electron transfer pathways. The in- teractions with water modify static and dynamical prop- erties of lipid bilayers. Moreover, the interactions lead to modification of the diffusion barrier across the mem- brane to ions and oxygen for example [11]. The modifi- cation of the interfaces by water may play an important role in energy dissipation in lipids, which is a key mechanism in maintaining photostability of the biologi- cal tissue. Unraveling the role of interfacial water in biological systems has required the application of a number of different techniques. The electron and neutron diffraction, X-ray absorption and diffraction, NMR and electron microscopy have enabled the direct probing of the static structure of hydration patterns. There is a large body of literature that review different aspects of static structure of interfacial water [2,12-17]. Recent developments of time-resolved electron and X-ray methods [18] have enabled the direct probing of the ultrafast structural dynamics. Several reviews have appeared in literature on various aspects of dynamics of interfacial water [1,19-33]. The biological tissue contains both the bulk and the