Analytical Methods to Study the Distribution of Gadolinium in Biological Samples

Scope of this thesis is the application and development of analytical methods for a better understanding of the disease NSF. Therefore, imaging techniques represent a powerful tool for the investigation of the distribution of Gd within tissue samples. The distribution of Gd in body fluids has to be investigated by means of atom or molecule specific analytical techniques. Following aims for this thesis were defined:The first aim of this thesis is the investigation of the interaction between ionic gadolinium and the protein transferrin. By applying high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) hyphenated to electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), the possible uptake could be easily recognized by a mass shift.Another aim of the thesis is to quantify the gadolinium amount bound to transferrin. Therefore, the protein shall to be separated in polyacrylamide gels, dried and investigated by means of laser ablation (LA) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Is the quantification of gadolinium within the focused protein band possible by means of isotope dilution analysis (IDA)?The utilization of GBCA for the localization of myocardial infarction within the heart muscle is of growing interest. Is it possible to perform quantitative elemental bioimaging of four different GBCA within mouse hearts by LA-ICP-MS and therefore to identify the region of the infarction?Furthermore, elemental bioimaging of gadolinium within a thin tissue section of a NSF patient is of significant interest. Is it possible to prove the presence of Gd within the affected skin area by means of scanning X-ray fluorescence analysis (μ-XRF)? Can these results be validated by means of LA-ICP-MS and is the quantification of gadolinium possible? For this purpose, the development of matrix-matched standards for external calibration is to be performed.