Abstract

Biochemical changes in the cervix during labor are not well understood, in part because of a lack of technology capable of safely probing the pregnant cervix in vivo. FT-IR spectroscopy has the potential to address these needs because it is a non-invasive optical technique that can sensitively detect changes in biochemical components. A total of 30 pregnant participants undergoing either spontaneous or induced labor were recruited. We detected several biochemical changes during labor, including a significant decrease in FT-IR spectral features associated with collagen and other extracellular matrix proteins attributed to collagen dispersion, an increase in spectral features associated with blood, and in features indicative of lipid-based molecules. Our results have demonstrated that FT-IR spectroscopy is sensitive to multiple biochemical remodeling changes in the cervix during labor. FT-IR spectroscopy may be a valuable noninvasive tool for objective cervical assessment to potentially guide clinical labor management.