back to contentsA new sampling technique toobtain the elemental mapping of a bio-tissue section by means ofthe EPMA equiped with WDX
Masayoshi Kobayashi,Kouichi Watanabe＊ and Osamu Miyakawa＊
EMX Laboratory, Niigata University
＊Department of Dental Materials and Technology,
Niigata University School of Dentistry
Abstract:
Electron Probe Microanalyzer (EPMA) is a powerful insrument forelemental analysis on a micrometer scale. In ordinary use,houever, the samples to be applied are restricted to heat-stablematerials, such as metals or ceramics, because irradiation of afinely focused electron beam generates intense heat in such alocal area. Accordingly the elemental analysis of a bio-tissuesection by EPMA was believed to be very difficult because such asection is very weak to heat and its elemental contents areextremely low.
By using the carbon block with a polished mirror surface as asupport and by slicing off an appropriate thick bio-section, thesample becomes to be very stable against the intense electronbeam. As a result, mapping analysis of even low content elementin bio-tissue can be obtained successfully. This new samlingtechnique can be applied to a study on the distribution of copperin the liver tissue in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and otherliver diseases. The results obtained are compared with anordinary staining method and turned out to be pathologicallyvaluable. In conclusion, this technique is found to be veryuseful for studying on the distribution of a cellular component.