Elemental bioimaging and speciation analysis for the investigation of Wilson's disease using μXRF and XANES

Metallomics. 2016 Jul 13;8(7):648-53. doi: 10.1039/c6mt00001k.

Abstract

A liver biopsy specimen from a Wilson's disease (WD) patient was analyzed by means of micro-X-ray fluorescence (μXRF) spectroscopy to determine the elemental distribution. First, bench-top μXRF was utilized for a coarse scan of the sample under laboratory conditions. The resulting distribution maps of copper and iron enabled the determination of a region of interest (ROI) for further analysis. In order to obtain more detailed elemental information, this ROI was analyzed by synchrotron radiation (SR)-based μXRF with a beam size of 4 μm offering a resolution at the cellular level. Distribution maps of additional elements to copper and iron like zinc and manganese were obtained due to a higher sensitivity of SR-μXRF. In addition to this, X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy (XANES) was performed to identify the oxidation states of copper in WD. This speciation analysis indicated a mixture of copper(i) and copper(ii) within the WD liver tissue.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Copper / metabolism*
  • Hepatolenticular Degeneration / diagnosis*
  • Hepatolenticular Degeneration / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Iron / metabolism*
  • Liver / metabolism
  • Liver / pathology*
  • Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission / methods*
  • X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy / methods*
  • Zinc / metabolism*

Substances

  • Copper
  • Iron
  • Zinc