Cryogenic Laser Ablation in a Rapid Cooling Chamber Ensures Excellent Elemental Imaging in Fresh Biological Tissues

Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry imaging of biologically significant targets largely relies on maintaining the original structures of samples. The temperature regulation capability of the ablation cell is crucial. Herein, a rapid cooling cryogenic sample cell (RCCSC) was developed. In the RCCSC chamber, the temperature reduces to -20 °C in 4 min with a minimum 10 h variation of ±0.1 °C at -26 °C. Improvements on the precision were achieved for the elements of interest in NIST 612 and spiked agarose gel under cryogenic conditions. The limits of detection improved by up to 1.57, 1.70, 3.26, and 1.33 fold for ⁶³Cu, ⁶⁶Zn, ⁵⁷Fe, and ¹⁴⁰Ce in agarose gel, respectively, were obtained under cryogenic conditions compared with those at room temperature. In a time period of testing (10 h), the cryogenic ablation maintains the native state of biological tissues with a high water content to ensure better elemental imaging by reducing thermal effects in ablation and suppressing evaporation of water. The rapid cooling cryogenic ablation significantly improves elemental imaging, as demonstrated by the imaging of various elements in coriander leaves. The present study may provide further insights into elemental distributions in fresh biological samples.