micro-PIXE Analysis Research Articles

Micro-PIXE analysis of macro- and trace elements in blood cells and tumors of patients with breast cancer

Elemental profiles of erythrocytes, neutrophil granulocytes and cancerous tissue from breast cancer patients, stage I–IV, displayed significant alterations in some essential and nonessential elements. Aluminium and titanium concentrations were increased in cancerous tissue. In the erythrocytes the iron, zinc and magnesium concentrations were about half the normal levels. The hemoglobin value was within the lower normal range. Titanium was observed in the erythrocytes and the neutrophils from the group examined but not in the control group. The neutrophils of the cancerous group displayed significantly increased concentrations of iron, copper and manganese but lowered concentrations of magnesium and zinc. Micro-PIXE might be a useful complement in the detecting of the imbalance of essential and nonessential elements in cancer.

Comparison of global elemental composition of liver tissue with composition of different cell fractions

The distribution of each element obtained by micro-PIXE analysis should be verified by correlating it with the tissue microscopic structure. In order to facilitate this we tried to correlate the measured distribution of various elements with the elemental composition of different cell fractions. For this purpose the various rabbit liver fractions were separated and analysed by PIXE using a broad proton beam.

Macro- and micro-PIXE analyses of biological and medical samples

Since the development and optimalization of the PIXE technique, applications in biology and medicine have attracted many research workers. The reason for this can be found in the biomedical field and also in the analytical field. In biochemistry, the role of trace elements was underestimated previously but there is a growing awareness of the importance of these traces in health and diseases. From the analytical point of view, biomedical work is promoted by the high sensitivity of PIXE in the region of Z between 10 and 40, exactly the region where, with a few exceptions, the biologically interesting elements are found. Moreover, the organic matrix does not represent a problem and, of course, the small sample size can be decisive for biomedical work. For very small amounts of material, the conservation of relative detection limits opens the possibility of scanning along a specimen with a proton microprobe (micro-PIXE), measuring element distributions. In this paper the limits of applicability of macro- as well as micro-PIXE for biomedical samples will be given, together with examples of applications of both techniques from the work performed at Amsterdam.

Resonance and ionization potentials for electrons in the monatomic gases argon, neon and helium

A number of steel plaques in Iran belong to Safavid period (17th century) were examined for their chemical composition and microstructure. The artefacts were analyzed using micro-PIXE, SEM-EDS and reflected light microscopy (OM). According to SEM-EDS and micro-PIXE analyses, it was revealed that the plaques were made of mostly pure iron (approximately 99 wt%). Presence of trace amounts of manganese, sulfur, chromium, silicon, titanium and potassium were identified in the plaques. Metallographic investigation showed that the plaques were made of hypereutectoid steel with a microstructure consisting of spherical particles of carbide in the ferrite and pearlite background. Moreover, the use of ultra-high carbon (UHC) steel with microstructure of pearlite matrix and needle-like Widmanstätten cementite was identified in one plaque. These features showed that Safavid plaques have been made of crucible steel. In addition, it demonstrated that complicated forging/heating cycles have been used for manufacturing of these openwork steel plaques. It was also revealed that in addition to arms and armors, crucible steel has served as an everyday work material in Safavid period in Iran.