2022 Volume 53 Pages 195-202
The intestine plays an important role to absorb nutrients. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident renewed public concerns about the internal exposure of radionuclides posed by food intake. In order to understand the dynamics of elemental distribution in the intestine, elemental images for intestinal tissue specimens were obtained with micro-PIXE system, QST. Cryo-sections of mouse intestine (10 μm thickness) placed on a polypropylene film (6 μm thickness) were prepared for the analysis. Histological observation was performed with serial-sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Micro-PIXE measurements were performed for the areas (1000 μm×1000 μm) covering from the base of the intestinal tract to the lumen in intestinal cross-sections from 5 regions (the upper, middle, and lower part of the jejunum, the ileum, and the colon). Clear images of phosphorus, sulfur, chloride, and potassium were obtained. Further measurements with higher resolution revealed that potassium localized areas were found in the villi and the bottom area of the mucosal layer of the middle and lower jejunum. The present method would be valuable for the studies on elemental distribution in the intestine corresponding to the fine tissue structure.
