Facets of ICP-MS and their potential in the medical sciences—Part 1: fundamentals, stand-alone and hyphenated techniques

Abstract

Since its inception in the early 80s, inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry has developed to the method of choice for the analysis of elements in complex biological systems. High sensitivity paired with isotopic selectivity and a vast dynamic range endorsed ICP-MS for the inquiry of metals in the context of biomedical questions. In a stand-alone configuration, it has optimal qualities for the biomonitoring of major, trace and toxicologically relevant elements and may further be employed for the characterisation of disrupted metabolic pathways in the context of diverse pathologies. The on-line coupling to laser ablation (LA) and chromatography expanded the scope and application range of ICP-MS and set benchmarks for accurate and quantitative speciation analysis and element bioimaging. Furthermore, isotopic analysis provided new avenues to reveal an altered metabolism, for the application of tracers and for calibration approaches. In the last two decades, the scope of ICP-MS was further expanded and inspired by the introduction of new instrumentation and methodologies including novel and improved hardware as well as immunochemical methods. These additions caused a paradigm shift for the biomedical application of ICP-MS and its impact in the medical sciences and enabled the analysis of individual cells, their microenvironment, nanomaterials considered for medical applications, analysis of biomolecules and the design of novel bioassays. These new facets are gradually recognised in the medical communities and several clinical trials are underway. Altogether, ICP-MS emerged as an extremely versatile technique with a vast potential to provide novel insights and complementary perspectives and to push the limits in the medical disciplines. This review will introduce the different facets of ICP-MS and will be divided into two parts. The first part will cover instrumental basics, technological advances, and fundamental considerations as well as traditional and current applications of ICP-MS and its hyphenated techniques in the context of biomonitoring, bioimaging and elemental speciation. The second part will build on this fundament and describe more recent directions with an emphasis on nanomedicine, immunochemistry, mass cytometry and novel bioassays. Graphical abstract

Equine odontoclastic tooth resorption and hypercementosis (EOTRH): microspatial distribution of trace elements in hypercementosis-affected and unaffected hard dental tissues

“…It is known that in benign tumors with altered growth rates, cells exhibit high metabolic rates that contribute to their local invasiveness and tissue proliferation 33,34 . Bioimaging of tissues with altered growth rate has shown that toxic elements accumulate at higher levels when compared to normal tissue [35][36][37] , as seen in the dental hard tissues of this study. The 'metabolic rate hypothesis' of hypercementosis proposed here deserves future research that may ultimately explore therapies that target the high metabolic rate of cells involved in hypercementosis in a manner similar to therapeutics targeting cancer cell metabolism 38 .…”

Atomic spectrometry update: review of advances in the analysis of clinical and biological materials, foods and beverages

“…Reviews related to advances in ICP-MS are discussed in Section 4.1. The team of Clases provided two comprehensive reviews 15,16 of the applications of ICP-MS in the biomedical eld, discussing both current practices and future directions, whereas Silva et al 17 devoted their efforts to cover all aspects of single cell ICP-MS (scICP-MS) for biomedical applications. Vladitsi et al 18 summarised the recent trends and criticalities of analytical methodologies for the characterisation and quanti-cation of NPs in biological matrices (Section 5).…”

Atomic spectrometry update: review of advances in elemental speciation

“…A comprehensive, two-part review examined the impact and potential of ICP-MS in the medical sciences. 17,18 In the rst part (258 references), the reviewers covered fundamentals, instrumental basics, technological advances, as well as applications of ICP-MS to biomonitoring, bioimaging and elemental speciation. The review included a substantial section devoted to "elemental speciation analysis in the medical sciences" that, naturally enough, featured many applications of HPLC-ICP-MS, but hardly any in which separation was by CZE.…”