Statistical Total Correlation Spectroscopy (STOCSY) for Identifying Contaminants and Their Effect on 1H- HRMAS of Cervical Tissue Samples

Robert Leslie Davidson¹, Sonali S. deSilva¹, Simon J. Doran¹, Geoffrey S. Payne¹

Statistical Total Correlation Spectroscopy (STOCSY) applied to contaminated 1H HR-MAS spectra of cervical tissue samples. 2D and 1D STOCSY plots show the highly correlated, structurally linked, contaminant peaks and allow identification of the compound as lignocaine (anaesthetic). The lack of other correlations with these peaks suggests that there is no significant, observable metabolic effect of lignocaine on these spectra. This means that a simple peak removal algorithm, such as that used to remove residual water, would be enough to allow this data to be analysed by pattern recognition techniques.