TY - JOUR A1 - Shigeta, K. A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Okino, A. A1 - Rottmann, L. A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert T1 - Application of a micro-droplet generator for an ICP-sector field mass spectrometer - optimization and analytical characterization N2 - A micro-droplet generator (µDG) sample introduction system was coupled to a sector field ICP-MS instrument to investigate the analytical figures of merit with respect to single cell analysis. The sector field instrument was operated for the first time in a fast scanning mode (E-scan) with the shortest time resolution of 100 µs to measure the single droplet time resolved and using the original detector in a pulse counting mode without modification of the existing electronics. For reduction of the droplet diameter a triple pulse mode of the droplet generator was applied and a droplet diameter down to 23 µm has been achieved for this investigation with a 100% transport efficiency of droplets. Signal duration times of single droplets of less than 500 µs have been measured. Overall detection efficiencies in the range of 10-3 counts per atom have been achieved and absolute limits of detection range between 120 ag for Fe and 1.1 ag for Mg as a mean value from 1000 droplet events. PY - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c2ja30207a SN - 0267-9477 SN - 1364-5544 VL - 28 IS - 5 SP - 646 EP - 656 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-29447 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Shigeta, K. A1 - Koellensperger, G. A1 - Rampler, E. A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Rottmann, L. A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Okino, A. A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert T1 - Sample introduction of single selenized yeast cells (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) by micro droplet generation into an ICP-sector field mass spectrometer for label-free detection of trace elements N2 - We have applied a micro droplet generator (µDG) for sample introduction of single selenized yeast cells into a sector field ICP-MS, which was operated in a fast scanning mode with sampling rates of up to 10 kHz, to measure single cells time resolved with 100 µs integration time. Selenized yeast cells have been used as a model system for preliminary investigation. The single cells to be measured have been embedded into droplets and it will be shown that the time duration of a single cell event always is about 400 to 500 µs, and thus comparable to the time duration of a droplet without a cell. A fixed droplet generation rate of 50 Hz produced equidistant signals in time of each droplet event and was advantageous to separate contribution from background and blank from the analytical signal. Open vessel digestion and a multielement analysis were performed with washed yeast cells and absolute amounts per single cell were determined for Na (0.91 fg), Mg (9.4 fg), Fe (5.9 fg), Cu (0.54 fg), Zn (1.2 fg) and Se (72 fg). Signal intensities from single cells have been measured for the elements Cu, Zn and Se, and histograms were calculated for about 1000 cell events. The mean elemental sensitivities measured here range from 0.7 counts per ag (Se) to 10 counts per ag (Zn) with RSD's from 49% (Zn) to 69% (Se) for about 1000 cell events. PY - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ja30370e SN - 0267-9477 SN - 1364-5544 VL - 28 IS - 5 SP - 637 EP - 645 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-29448 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Büchner, T. A1 - Drescher, D. A1 - Merk, V. A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Guttmann, P. A1 - Werner, St. A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Schneider, G. A1 - Kneipp, J. T1 - Biomolecular environment, quantification, and intracellular interaction of multifunctional magnetic SERS nanoprobes N2 - Multifunctional composite nanoprobes consisting of iron oxide nanoparticles linked to silver and gold nanoparticles, Ag–Magnetite and Au–Magnetite, respectively, were introduced by endocytic uptake into cultured fibroblast cells. The cells containing the non-toxic nanoprobes were shown to be displaceable in an external magnetic field and can be manipulated in microfluidic channels. The distribution of the composite nanostructures that are contained in the endosomal system is discussed on the basis of surfaceenhanced Raman scattering (SERS) mapping, quantitative laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) micromapping, and cryo soft X-ray tomography (cryo soft-XRT). Cryo soft-XRT of intact, vitrified cells reveals that the composite nanoprobes form intra-endosomal aggregates. The nanoprobes provide SERS signals from the biomolecular composition of their surface in the endosomal environment. The SERS data indicate the high stability of the nanoprobes and of their plasmonic properties in the harsh environment of endosomes and lysosomes. The spectra point at the molecular composition at the surface of the Ag–Magnetite and Au–Magnetite nanostructures that is very similar to that of other Composite structures, but different from the composition of pure silver and gold SERS nanoprobes used for intracellular investigations. As shown by the LA-ICP-MS data, the uptake efficiency of the magnetite composites is approximately two to three times higher than that of the pure gold and silver nanoparticles. KW - Nanoparticles KW - SERS KW - Cell KW - LA-ICP-MS KW - X-ray tomography PY - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-371811 SN - 0003-2654 VL - 141 IS - 17 SP - 5096 EP - 5106 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge, UK AN - OPUS4-37181 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Drescher, Daniela A1 - Zeise, Ingrid A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Guttmann, P. A1 - Seifert, Stephan A1 - Büchner, Tina A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Schneider, G. A1 - Kneipp, Janina T1 - In situ characterization of SiO2 nanoparticle biointeractions using BrightSilica N2 - By adding a gold core to silica nanoparticles (BrightSilica), silica-like nanoparticles are generated that, unlike unmodified silica nanoparticles, provide three types of complementary information to investigate the silica nano-biointeraction inside eukaryotic cells in situ. Firstly, organic molecules in proximity of and penetrating into the silica shell in live cells are monitored by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The SERS data show interaction of the hybrid silica particles with tyrosine, cysteine and phenylalanine side chains of adsorbed proteins. Composition of the biomolecular corona of BrightSilica nanoparticles differs in fibroblast and macrophage cells. Secondly, quantification of the BrightSilica nanoparticles using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) micromapping indicates a different interaction of silica nanoparticles compared to gold nanoparticles under the same experimental conditions. Thirdly, the metal cores allow the investigation of particle distribution and interaction in the cellular ultrastructure by cryo nanoscale X-ray tomography (cryo-XT). In 3D reconstructions the assumption is confirmed that BrightSilica nanoparticles enter cells by an endocytotic mechanism. The high SERS intensities are explained by the beneficial plasmonic properties due to agglomeration of BrightSilica. The results have implications for the development of multi-modal qualitative and quantitative characterization in comparative nanotoxicology and bionanotechnology. KW - Silica nanoparticles KW - Surface-enhanced Raman scattering KW - X-ray tomography KW - LA-ICP-MS KW - Core–shell structures PY - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201304126 SN - 1616-301X SN - 1616-3028 VL - 24 IS - 24 SP - 3765 EP - 3775 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-30924 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Müller, Larissa A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Drescher, Daniela A1 - Baranov, Vladimir A1 - Kneipp, Janina T1 - Trends in single-cell analysis by use of ICP-MS N2 - The analysis of single cells is a growing research field in many disciplines such as toxicology, medical diagnosis, drug and cancer research or metallomics, and different methods based on microscopic, mass spectrometric, and spectroscopic techniques are under investigation. This review focuses on the most recent trends in which inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and ICP optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) are applied for single-cell analysis using metal atoms being intrinsically present in cells, taken up by cells (e.g., nanoparticles), or which are artificially bound to a cell. For the latter, especially element tagged antibodies are of high interest and are discussed in the review. The application of different sample introduction systems for liquid analysis (pneumatic nebulization, droplet generation) and elemental imaging by laser ablation ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS) of single cells are highlighted. Because of the high complexity of biological systems and for a better understanding of processes and dynamics of biologically or medically relevant cells, the authors discuss the idea of 'multimodal spectroscopies.' KW - Bioanalytical methods KW - Cell systems/single cell analysis KW - Mass spectrometry/ICP-MS PY - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-8143-7 SN - 1618-2642 SN - 1618-2650 VL - 406 IS - 27 SP - 6963 EP - 6977 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-31717 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Büchner, Tina A1 - Drescher, Daniela A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Schrade, P. A1 - Bachmann, S. A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Kneipp, Janina T1 - Relating surface-enhanced Raman scattering signals of cells to gold nanoparticle aggregation as determined by LA-ICP-MS micromapping N2 - The cellular response to nanoparticle exposure is essential in various contexts, especially in nanotoxicity and nanomedicine. Here, 14-nm gold nanoparticles in 3T3 fibroblast cells are investigated in a series of pulse-chase experiments with a 30-min incubation pulse and chase times ranging from 15 min to 48 h. The gold nanoparticles and their aggregates are quantified inside the cellular ultrastructure by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry micromapping and evaluated regarding the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signals. In this way, both information about their localization at the micrometre scale and their molecular nanoenvironment, respectively, is obtained and can be related. Thus, the nanoparticle pathway from endocytotic uptake, intracellular processing, to cell division can be followed. It is shown that the ability of the intracellular nanoparticles and their accumulations and aggregates to support high SERS signals is neither directly related to nanoparticle amount nor to high local nanoparticle densities. The SERS data indicate that aggregate geometry and interparticle distances in the cell must change in the course of endosomal maturation and play a critical role for a specific gold nanoparticle type in order to act as efficient SERS nanoprobe. This finding is supported by TEM images, showing only a minor portion of aggregates that present small interparticle spacing. The SERS spectra obtained after different chase times show a changing composition and/or structure of the biomolecule corona of the gold nanoparticles as a consequence of endosomal processing. KW - Gold nanoparticles KW - Surface-enhanced Raman scattering KW - LA-ICP-MS KW - Fibroblast KW - Cell KW - Particle aggregation KW - Endosome PY - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-8069-0 SN - 1618-2642 SN - 1618-2650 VL - 406 IS - 27 SP - 7003 EP - 7014 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-31718 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cruz-Alonso, M. A1 - Fernandez, B. A1 - Álvarez, L. A1 - González-Iglesias, H. A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Pereiro, R. T1 - Bioimaging of metallothioneins in ocular tissue sections by laser ablation-ICP-MS using bioconjugated gold nanoclusters as specific tags N2 - An immunohistochemical method is described to visualize the distribution of metallothioneins 1/2 (MT 1/2) and metallothionein 3 (MT 3) in human ocular tissue. It is making use of (a) antibodies conjugated to gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) acting as labels, and (b) laser ablation (LA) coupled to inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).Water-soluble fluorescent AuNCs (with an average size of 2.7 nm) were synthesized and then conjugated to antibody by carbodiimide coupling. The surface of the modified AuNCs was then blocked with hydroxylamine to avoid nonspecific interactions with biological tissue. Immunoassays for MT 1/2 and MT 3 in ocular tissue sections (5 μm thick) from two post mortem human donors were performed. Imaging studies were then performed by fluorescence using confocal microscopy, and LA-ICP-MS was performed in the retina to measure the signal for gold. Signal amplification by the >500 gold atoms in each nanocluster allowed the antigens (MT 1/2 and MT 3) to be imaged by LA-ICP-MS using a laser spot size as small as 4 μm. The image patterns found in retina are in good agreement with those obtained by conventional fluorescence immunohistochemistry which was used as an established reference method. KW - Metal nanoclusters KW - Fluorescence KW - Protein imaging KW - Thin tissue sections KW - Immunohistochemistry KW - Bioconjugation KW - Carbodiimide crosslinking KW - Laser ablation KW - Mass spectrometry PY - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-017-2597-1 VL - 185 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-44022 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cruz-Alonso, M. A1 - Fernandez, B. A1 - Alvarez, L. A1 - Gonzalez-Iglesias, H. A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Pereiro, R. T1 - Bioimaging of metallothioneins in ocular tissue sections by laser ablation-ICP-MS using bioconjugated gold nanoclusters as specific tags N2 - An immunohistochemical method is described to visualize the distribution of metallothioneins 1/2 (MT 1/2) and metallothionein 3 (MT 3) in human ocular tissue. It is making use of (a) antibodies conjugated to gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) acting as labels, and (b) laser ablation (LA) coupled to inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Water-soluble fluorescent AuNCs (with an average size of 2.7 nm) were synthesized and then conjugated to antibody by carbodiimide coupling. The surface of the modified AuNCs was then blocked with hydroxylamine to avoid nonspecific interactions with biological tissue. Immunoassays for MT 1/2 and MT 3 in ocular tissue sections (5 μm thick) from two post mortem human donors were performed. Imaging studies were then performed by fluorescence using confocal microscopy, and LA-ICP-MS was performed in the retina to measure the signal for gold. Signal amplification by the >500 gold atoms in each nanocluster allowed the antigens (MT 1/2 and MT 3) to be imaged by LA-ICP-MS using a laser spot size as small as 4 μm. The image patterns found in retina are in good agreement with those obtained by conventional fluorescence immunohistochemistry which was used as an established reference method. KW - Nanocluster KW - Immunohistochemistry KW - Laser ablation KW - ICP-MS KW - Fluorescence KW - Bioimaging PY - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-017-2597-1 SN - 1436-5073 SN - 0026-3672 VL - 185 IS - 1 SP - 64 EP - 72 PB - Springer CY - Vienna AN - OPUS4-44637 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pisonero, J. A1 - Bouzas-Ramos, D. A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Cappella, Brunero A1 - Alvarez-Llamas, C. A1 - Richter, Silke A1 - Mayo, J. C. A1 - Costa-Fernandez, J. M. A1 - Bordel, N. A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert T1 - Critical evaluation of fast and highly resolved elemental distribution in single cells using LA-ICP-SFMS N2 - The analytical potential of a nanosecond laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ns-LA-ICP-SFMS) system, equipped with an ultra-fast wash-out ablation chamber, is critically investigated for fast and highly spatially resolved (∼μm) qualitative elemental distribution within single cells. Initially, a low surface roughness (< 10 nm) thin In–SnO2 layer (total coating thickness ∼200 nm) deposited on glass is employed to investigate the size, morphology and overlapping of laser-induced craters obtained at different laser repetition rates, making use of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Conical craters with a surface diameter of about 2 µm and depths of about 100 nm were measured after a single laser shot. Furthermore, the influence of the sampling distance (i.e. distance between the sample surface and the inner sniffer of the ablation chamber) on the LA-ICP-MS ion signal wash-out time is evaluated. A significant decrease of the transient 120Sn+ ion signal is noticed after slight variations (±200 μm) around the optimum sampling position. Ultra-fast wash-outs (< 10 ms) are achieved reducing the aerosol mixing from consecutive laser shots even when operating the laser at high repetition rates (25 – 100 Hz). Fast and highly spatially resolved images of elemental distribution within mouse embryonic fibroblast cells (NIH/3T3 fibroblast cells) and human cervical carcinoma cells (HeLa cells), incubated with gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and Cd-based quantum dots (QDs), respectively, are determined at the optimized operating conditions. Elemental distribution of Au and Cd in single cells is achieved using a high scanning speed (50 µm/s) and high repetition rate (100 Hz). The results obtained for the distribution of fluorescent Cd-based QDs within the HeLa cells are in good agreement with those obtained by confocal microscopy. The size, morphology and overlapping of laser-induced craters in the fixed cells are also investigated using AFM, observing conical craters with a surface diameter of about 2.5 µm and depths of about 800 nm after a single laser shot. KW - Laser ablation KW - ICP-MS KW - Nanoparticle KW - Atomic Force Microscopy KW - Cell PY - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ja00096d SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-45564 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Arakawa, Akihiro A1 - Jakubowski, Norbert A1 - Koellensperger, G. A1 - Theiner, S. A1 - Schweikert, A. A1 - Flemig, Sabine A1 - Iwahata, D. A1 - Traub, Heike A1 - Hirata, T. T1 - Quantitative Imaging of Silver Nanoparticles and Essential Elements in Thin Sections of Fibroblast Multicellular Spheroids by High Resolution Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry N2 - We applied high resolution laser ablation inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-TOF-MS) with cellular spatial resolution for bioimaging of nanoparticles uptaken by fibroblast multicellular spheroids (MCS). This was used to quantitatively investigate interactions of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and the distributions of intrinsic minerals and biologically relevant elements within thin sections of a fibroblast MCS as a three-dimensional in vitro tissue model. We designed matrix-matched calibration standards for this purpose and printed them using a noncontact piezo-driven array spotter with a Ag NP suspension and multielement standards. The limits of detection for Ag, Mg, P, K, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, and Zn were at the femtogram (fg) level, which is sufficient to investigate intrinsic minerals in thin MCS sections (20 μm thick). After incubation for 48 h, Ag NPs were enriched in the outer rim of the MCS but not detected in the core. The localization of Ag NPs was inhomogeneous in the outer rim, and they were colocalized with a single-cell-like structure visualized by Fe distribution (pixel size of elemental images: 5 × 0.5 μm). The quantitative value for the total mass of Ag NPs in a thin section by the present method agreed with that obtained by ICP-sector field (SF)-MS with a liquid mode after acid digestion. KW - Laser ablation KW - ICP-MS KW - Imaging KW - Nanoparticle KW - Cell KW - Spheroid PY - 2019 UR - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.9b02239 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.9b02239 SN - 0003-2700 VL - 91 IS - 15 SP - 10197 EP - 10203 PB - American Chemical Society, ACS Publications CY - Washington D.C. AN - OPUS4-48719 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -