Studying the metabolites composition for tissues of ENT organs with high-resolution THz spectroscopy

The work is devoted to studying the metabolites composition for the tissues of the ear-nose-throat (ENT) organs with high-resolution THz spectroscopy and the comparison of the composition of metabolites formed during thermal decomposition of a relatively healthy mucosa, a sphenoid sinus polyp and a cyst of the maxillary sinus. The studies were carried out using high-resolution THz spectrometers developed by the authors, which is based on non-stationary effects and operates in the range of 118-178 GHz. Substances were identified by absorption lines using electronic databases. To assess the metabolites, a qualitative analysis of the chemical composition of the thermal decomposition products and a comparison of the obtained spectra of substances and the number of absorption lines of a relatively healthy mucosa, sphenoid sinus polyp, and maxillary sinus cyst were performed in the frequency range of 60 GHz. Analysis of the results showed that all samples contained substances such as methanol, propanediol, acetonitrile, butyronitrile, benzonitrile, methyl mercaptan, azole, ethylene sulfide, carbon sulphide, and sulfur dioxide. However, in the spectrum of a relatively healthy mucosa, the number of absorption lines of these substances is much less than in the spectra of a polyp and a cyst, which indicates their lower concentration. In addition, absorption lines appear in the spectra of the polyp and cyst, corresponding to substances such as acetone, hydroxyacetone, dihydroxyacetone, propionitrile, acrylonitrile, aminopropionitrile, hydroxyacetonitrile, aminoacetonitrile, methylbutyronitrile, propanal, benzaldehyde, glycolaldehyde, lactaldehyde, malondialdehyde, monoethanolamine, alanine, pyridine, while their concentrations differ significantly. In addition, the thermal decomposition products of the cyst contain acetic and acrylic acids. Thus, the potential possibility of using high-resolution THz spectroscopy for the analysis of the composition of metabolites of ENT tissues has been shown.