A liver biopsy specimen from a Wilson's disease (WD) patient was analyzed by means of micro-X-ray fluorescence (?XRF) spectroscopy to determine the elemental distribution. First, bench-top ?XRF was utilized for a coarse scan of the sample under laboratory conditions. The resulting distribution maps of copper and iron enabled the determination of a region of interest (ROI) for further analysis. In order to obtain more detailed elemental information, this ROI was analyzed by synchrotron radiation (SR)-based ?XRF with a beam size of 4 ?m offering a resolution at the cellular level. Distribution maps of additional elements to copper and iron like zinc and manganese were obtained due to a higher sensitivity of SR-?XRF. In addition to this, X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy (XANES) was performed to identify the oxidation states of copper in WD. This speciation analysis indicated a mixture of copper(i) and copper(ii) within the WD liver tissue.     «

A liver biopsy specimen from a Wilson's disease (WD) patient was analyzed by means of micro-X-ray fluorescence (?XRF) spectroscopy to determine the elemental distribution. First, bench-top ?XRF was utilized for a coarse scan of the sample under laboratory conditions. The resulting distribution maps of copper and iron enabled the determination of a region of interest (ROI) for further analysis. In order to obtain more detailed elemental information, this ROI was analyzed by synchrotron radiation...     »