Trace element analysis of tissue section by means of synchrotron radiation: the use of GNUPLOT for SRIXE spectra analysis

Abstract

Synchrotron Radiation Induced X-ray Emission (SRIXE) is a powerful technique for Trace Element (TE) analysis in biomedical samples. Recently, SRIXE technique has been applied to TE determination in 20 μm thick kidney and prostate tissue sections, taken from cancerous and healthy organs. Results obtained for the latter two are compared. Matrices of biomedical samples are mostly composed of low-Z elements, and trace elements are at low levels. This is why SRIXE data analysis in such materials may be quite a challenge. In order to solve analytical problems, sophisticated fitting procedures have to be applied since a proper spectra analysis requires additional information about the sample. This is usually carried out by dedicated computer software. We are showing that satisfactory results can be obtained by employing GNUPLOT, a public domain script-driven engine for data visualization and curve fitting. The results of GNUPLOT are compared with ones obtained from QXAS, an open domain software (obtained from IAEA).