Recent applications of laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for biological sample analysis: a follow-up review

Abstract

Information provided by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) in the analysis of biological tissues is expanding.

Abstract

Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is a feasible technique to obtain either quantitative elemental data or spatially resolved imaging/mapping of elements in biological tissues. Its popularity is due to the great detection capability of the setup, which has found central applicability in metallomics, nanoparticles uptake, labeling and tagging strategies in biological systems, elemental mapping of tissues and quantitative data for biomedical studies, besides utilization in a complementary manner with molecular mass spectrometry techniques. This article provides an update of recent progress and applications of LA-ICP-MS in the biological field, covering the time frame of the last three years. Key topics dealing with fast wash-out laser ablation cell developments, novel calibration strategies such as ink printing and dried-droplets, applications and mapping of elemental distribution in biological samples (animal, human and plant tissues), nanoparticle uptake, protein and single cell analysis are surveyed and critically discussed.