LA-ICP-TOF-MS for rapid, all-elemental and quantitative bioimaging, isotopic analysis and the investigation of plasma processes

Abstract

Visualization of elemental distributions in biological tissues can provide valuable information about biological and medical correlations and there is an increasing demand for spatially resolved and quantitative information. The trend for elemental bioimaging goes to ultrafast and high spatial resolution analysis. The use of an inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) instrument equipped with a time of flight (TOF) mass analyzer offers a great advantage for this application because of quasi-simultaneous analysis of the entire elemental mass spectrum. It offers high isotope ratio measurement precision and thus suitability for isotope dilution analysis (IDA). In this work, rat kidney samples from cisplatin (Pt-based anti-cancer drug) perfusion experiments were investigated using an ICP-TOF-MS analyzer and the results were discussed in terms of the calibration approach, the suitability for isotope ratio measurements and the quasi-simultaneous detection of all elements. Due to the speed of the TOF detector and the use of an aerosol rapid introduction system (ARIS), an ultrafast bioimaging approach was adopted that allowed analysis of a 70 mm² area in just 5 h. On top of that, plasma fluctuations and thus signal deviations could be traced back to large droplets reaching the plasma thanks to the multi-elemental and simultaneous detection.