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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.
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a well-established analytical method for multi-elemental analysis in particular for elements at trace and ultra-trace levels. It has found acceptance in various application areas during the last decade. ICP-MS is also more and more applied for detection in the life sciences. For these applications, ICP-MS excels by a high sensitivity, which is independent of the molecular structure of the analyte, a wide linear dynamic range and by excellent multi-element capabilities. Furthermore, methods based on ICP-MS offer simple quantification concepts, for which usually (liquid) standards are applied, low matrix effects compared to other conventional bioanalytical techniques, and relative limits of detection (LODs) in the low pg g−1 range and absolute LODs down to the attomol range.
In this chapter, we focus on new applications where the multi-element capability of ICP-MS is used for detection of lanthanoides or rare earth elements, which are applied as elemental stains or tags of biomolecules and in particular of antibodies.
LA-ICP-MS is increasingly used for single cell analysis in two different detection modes using either the imaging mode with subcellular resolution or alternatively single spot analysis of cells with a larger laser spot size. This study compares the analytical figures of merit of both detection modes (signal to noise, precision, accuracy, throughput), as well as ease of operation and data evaluation. Adherent 3T3 fibroblast cells were stained with two metal dyes (mDOTA-Ho, Ir-DNA-intercalator) and several dozen cells were measured using both modes. We found a ten times higher throughput for single spot analysis, which has as well a straightforward data analysis, shortening the total analysis time further. The signal to noise ratio for single spot analysis was found to be slightly better compared to the signal to noise of pixels in imaging. The mean metal intensity per single cell differed by only 10% between both modes and obtained distributions were found to show no statistically significant differences. Using matrix matched calibration based on standards spotted onto nitrocellulose membrane, we achieved detection limits (10s) of 12 fg for Ir and 30 fg for Ho and quantified 57 +/-35 fg Ir and 1192 +/- 707 fg Ho per single cell.
Compared to a conventional ICP-MS measurement of a digest of about 60000 cells, 54% of Ir content and 358% Ho content was found using quantitative LA-ICP-MS. The difference might be a consequence of the two metal dyes binding to different structures of the cell and therefore might behave differently in sample preparation for conventional and LA-ICP-MS.