Modern Bioimaging Techniques for Elemental Tissue Analysis: Key Parameters, Challenges and Medical Impact

Area of Science:

• Medical imaging
• Analytical chemistry
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Elemental imaging techniques (XRF, SEM/TEM-EDS, LIBS, LA-ICP-MS) are crucial for clinical diagnostics, disease assessment, and understanding cellular processes.
• These methods offer semi-quantitative, quantitative, and speciation analyses of elemental composition in biological samples.
• The quality of elemental tissue analysis is influenced by various factors, with technique-specific impacts on bioimaging results.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the influence of crucial parameters on elemental bioimaging results in human tissues.
• To analyze studies published in the last ten years focusing on methodology and quality of results.
• To provide a comprehensive overview for improving the reliability of elemental tissue analysis.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was conducted in the Scopus database.
• Keywords used included "element AND imaging AND human tissue".
• Studies were selected based on methodological relevance for assessing result quality.

Main Results:

• Measurement selectivity, influenced by human tissue complexity, is a critical parameter for all techniques.
• Quantitative analysis is challenging due to the lack of suitable calibration materials, impacting accuracy assessment, especially for trace elements.
• Reliable elemental tissue composition data requires careful consideration of multiple influencing factors.

Conclusions:

• Elemental bioimaging techniques are powerful tools for human tissue analysis.
• Understanding and accounting for factors influencing measurements are essential for obtaining reliable results.
• Further research into standardization and calibration is needed to enhance accuracy.