Nuclear microscopy: biomedical applications

Abstract

Recent developments in high energy ion beam techniques and technology have enabled the scanning proton microprobe (SPM) to make advances in biomedical research. In particular the combination of proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) to measure the elemental concentrations of inorganic elements, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) to characterise the organic matrix, and scanning transmission ion microscopy (STIM) to provide information on the density and structure of the sample, represents a powerful set of techniques which can be applied simultaneously to the specimen under investigation. This paper reviews briefly the biomedical work using the proton microprobe that has been carried out since the 2nd Int. Conf. on Nuclear Microprobe Technology and Applications held in Melbourne, 1990. Three recent and diverse examples of medical research are also presented from work carried out using the Oxford SPM. The first is a preliminary experiment carried out using human hair as a monitor for potential toxicity, using PIXE elemental mapping across the hair cross section to differentiate between elements contained within the hair and contamination from external sources. The second example is in the use of STIM to map individual cells in freeze-dried tissue, showing the possibility of the in situ microanalysis of cells and their extracellular environment. The third is the use of PIXE, RBS and STIM to identify and analyse the elemental constituents of neuritic plaque cores in untreated freeze-dried Alzheimer's tissue. This work resolves a current controversy by revealing an absence of aluminium levels in plaque cores at the 15 ppm level.