Nanoscale quantification of intracellular element concentration by X-ray fluorescence microscopy combined with X-ray phase contrast nanotomography

• Published in: Applied physics letters 2018-01, Vol.112 (5)
• Main Authors: Gramaccioni, Chiara, Yang, Yang, Procopio, Alessandra, Pacureanu, Alexandra, Bohic, Sylvain, Malucelli, Emil, Iotti, Stefano, Farruggia, Giovanna, Bukreeva, Inna, Notargiacomo, Andrea, Fratini, Michela, Valenti, Piera, Rosa, Luigi, Berlutti, Francesca, Cloetens, Peter, Lagomarsino, Stefano
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied physics; Atomic force microscopy; Chemical analysis; Medical imaging; Microscopes; Microscopy; Morphology; Nondestructive testing; Organic chemistry; Phase contrast; Synchrotron radiation; X ray microscopy; X-ray fluorescence
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.5008834

We present here a correlative X-ray microscopy approach for quantitative single cell imaging of molar concentrations. By combining the elemental content provided by X-ray fluorescence microscopy and the morphology information extracted from X-ray phase nanotomography, we determine the intracellular molarity distributions. This correlative method was demonstrated on a freeze-dried human phagocytic cell to obtain the absolute elemental concentration maps of K, P, and Fe. The cell morphology results showed a very good agreement with atomic-force microscopy measurements. This work opens the way for non-destructive single cell chemical analysis down to the sub-cellular level using exclusively synchrotron radiation techniques. It will be of high interest in the case where it is difficult to access the morphology using atomic-force microscopy, for example, on frozen-hydrated cells or tissues.