1. Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Oviedo, Julian Clavería 8, 33006, Oviedo, Spain 2. Fundación de Investigación Oftalmológica, Instituto Oftalmológico Fernández-Vega, 33012, Oviedo, Spain
Abstract:
Laser ablation coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry has been developed for the elemental imaging of Mg, Fe and Cu distribution in histological tissue sections of fixed eyes, embedded in paraffin, from human donors (cadavers). This work presents the development of a novel internal standard correction methodology based on the deposition of a homogeneous thin gold film on the tissue surface and the use of the 197Au+ signal as internal standard. Sample preparation (tissue section thickness) and laser conditions were carefully optimized, and internal normalisation using 197Au+ was compared with 13C+ correction for imaging applications. 24Mg+, 56Fe+ and 63Cu+ distributions were investigated in histological sections of the anterior segment of the eye (including the iris, ciliary body, cornea and trabecular meshwork) and were shown to be heterogeneously distributed along those tissue structures. Reproducibility was assessed by imaging different human eye sections from the same donor and from ten different eyes from adult normal donors, which showed that similar spatial maps were obtained and therefore demonstrate the analytical potential of using 197Au+ as internal standard. The proposed analytical approach could offer a robust tool with great practical interest for clinical studies, e.g. to investigate trace element distribution of metals and their alterations in ocular diseases.
Figure
Development of a new internal standard correction methodology for qualitative elemental imaging by LA-ICP-MS