Nuclear elemental analyses with a cyclotron on biomedical samples

The Eindhoven scanning proton microprobe enables the determination of the i on content of heart tissue on a subcellular scale. It is shown that intra-c ellular elemental concentrations can be determined. Measurements are carrie d out for physiological and patho-physiological rat heart muscle tissue. Im portant alterations in Na and K concentrations are reported as measured wit h PIXE, RES and NFS techniques employing a variable energy cyclotron (3-30 MeV). However, quantitative intra-cellular determinations are hampered by t he presence of extra-cellular space (ECS). For this purpose, cobaltic ethyl ene-diamine-tetra-acetic-acid (Co(III)EDTA) was used as an exogenic ECS mar ker. The intra-cellular ion concentrations of normoxic tissue after correct ion for the ECS agree well with the literature values. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sc ience B.V. All rights reserved.