Table 1.
Characteristics of biopsy samples used in this study.
Table 2.
Optimized experimental parameters used for LA-ICP-MS imaging of human liver samples.
Figure 1.
Representative SEM/EDX microanalysis in liver. (A)
SEM overview of a paraffin embedded liver specimen from a patient (N1) suffering from fibrosis. (B) The metal deposit that was subsequently analysed by EDX is marked by a white arrow. (C) Resulting elemental EDX microanalyses of the marked mineral crust in (B). The peaks in the spectrum are labelled with the EDX line of the corresponding element.
Figure 2.
Principle and workflow of LA-ICP-MS for hepatic metal imaging.
(A) Principle and (B) Workflow of imaging mass spectrometry from sample preparation of thin section by cryo-cutting, via the LA-ICP-MS measurement procedure by scanning of thin tissue section (line by line), acquisition and evaluation of analytical data including quantification using single point calibration (NIST SRM 1577b bovine liver).
Figure 3.
Representative immunohistochemical analysis of liver sections of patients enrolled in this study.
(A, C, E) Normal (N1) and (B, D, F) cirrhotic liver tissues (D2) were stained with (A, B) hematoxylin and eosin, (C, D) Ladewig, or (E, F) probed with an antibody specific for α-SMA. The space bar in each figure represents 100 µM each.
Figure 4.
Reproducibility of imaging of elements in liver tissue sample.
Representative spatial distribution of elements of interest (S, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Cd) in four adjacent sections from the same human liver tissue is depicted.
Figure 5.
LA-ICP-MS imaging of essential and toxic metals and carbon in hepatic cirrhosis.
Representative LA-ICP-MS maps of C, Na, Mg, P, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sn, Hg, and Pb isotope as detected in cirrhotic human liver sample (D3).
Figure 6.
Selected LA-ICP-MS images in control liver samples.
Images of Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn and Cd of control human liver samples (N1-N5) measured by LA-ICP-MS.
Figure 7.
Selected LA-ICP-MS images in diseased liver.
Images of Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn and Cd of fibrotic (D1) and cirrhotic human liver samples (D2-D5) measured by LA-ICP-MS.
Figure 8.
Quantitative metal distribution in liver samples.
Comparative measurement of Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, and Cd concentration in sections through the control (n = 5) and diseased (fibrotic/cirrhotic) (n = 5) liver tissue.