Visualization of intracellular elements using scanning X-ray fluorescence microscopy

Abstract

Recent technological developments have enabled the imaging of chemical elements in cells, although quantitative analyses, such as by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, were developed previously. Applications allowing high-resolution imaging at the single-cell level are anticipated in cell biology and medicine, where the roles of elements, especially in relation to intracellular molecules such as proteins, nucleic acids, lipids, and sugars, are essential for understanding cellular functions. The expression of proteins and genes varies depending on cellular function, and multiple elements are likely to be associated with biological molecules in the functioning of cell proliferation, differentiation, aging, and stress responses. In this review, we describe a scanning X-ray fluorescence microscopy system, which can reliably determine the cellular distribution of multiple elements by a sub-100-nm focusing approach, together with its applications. Visualizing intracellular elements and understanding their dynamics at the single-cell level may provide great insight into their behaviors.