Elemental bioimaging by means of LA-ICP-OES: investigation of the calcium, sodium and potassium distribution in tobacco plant stems and leaf petioles

Thyssen, GM; Holtkamp, M; Kaulfürst-Soboll, H; Wehe, CA; Sperling, M; von Schaewen, A; Karst, U

Abstract

Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (LA-ICP-OES) is presented as avaluable tool for elemental bioimaging of alkali and earth alkali elements in plants. Whereas LA-ICP-OESis commonly used for micro analysis of solid samples, laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-massspectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) has advanced to the gold standard for bioimaging. However, especially foreasily excitable and ubiquitous elements such as alkali and earth alkali elements, LA-ICP-OES holdssome advantages regarding simultaneous detection, costs, contamination, and user-friendliness. This isdemonstrated by determining the calcium, sodium and potassium distribution in tobacco plant stem andleaf petiole tissues. A quantification of the calcium contents in a concentration range up to 1000 mg g1using matrix-matched standards is presented as well. The method is directly compared to a LA-ICP-MSapproach by analyzing parallel slices of the same samples.