Laser ablation low-flow ICP-MS for elemental bioimaging

Abstract

A laser ablation system (LA) was coupled to an in-house developed low-flow inductively coupled plasma ion source for mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). This new setup was applied to elemental bioimaging of rat kidney sections.

Quantitative Determination and Subcellular Imaging of Cu in Single Cells via Laser Ablation-ICP-Mass Spectrometry Using High-Density Microarray Gelatin Standards

“…Rhodamine B 2% (wt) was added into the standard solution of dispensed droplets in an attempt to match the droplet matrix to the cellular matrix and to visualize them. Gelatin can be considered a matrix-matched standard to the dinoflagellate matrix, as its properties partially resemble the properties of the fibrous protein collagen, its precursor and the most abundant protein in extracellular biological tissue; furthermore, the protein-rich composition of gelatin matches well the protein-rich (40–55% of the dry weight) cellular material. , Gelatin has been deployed in the past as a matrix for standards in LA-ICPMS tissue section imaging. ,− The ionization efficiencies and particle transport properties are similar for gelatin and for biological material . Self-aliquoting microarray plates–analogous to nanotiter plates, which are extensively deployed in microbiological assays–designed to distribute samples into pL volumes for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI) were coined by Urban et al as Micro Arrays for Mass Spectrometry (MAMS). − In the current study, high-density microarray plates are evaluated as microcontainers for holding spiked gelatin as matrix-matched LA-ICPMS single-cell standards.…”