Advances in tissues and cells characterization by Raman micro‐spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and tip‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Abstract The comprehension of some diseases at the cellular and tissue scale is fundamental for the development of effective treatments for such conditions, and in this regard, Raman micro‐spectoscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and tip‐enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) are techniques that have featured prominently in the characterization of biological materials like cells and tissues, since they allow the acquisition of detailed physical, chemical, biophysical, and physiological properties of the surface of these kind of samples such as elasticity, viscoelasticity, wettability, topography, molecular composition, and others. Due to this, this literature review has as its primary scope the presentation of some of the recent advances and new analysis methodologies using Raman, AFM, and TERS, pointing out what they can offer toward the investigation of the behavior of cells and biological tissues. Limits of usage, drawbacks, and future perspectives are presented and discussed.