Study of the effects of chronic arsenic poisoning in rat kidneys by means of synchrotron microscopic x-ray fluorescence analysis

摘要

Synchrotron microscopic x-ray fluorescence analysis (mu-SRXRF) was used for determining the twodimensional distribution of Cl, K, Fe, Cu, Zn, As and Br concentrations in rat kidney slices. The animals received drinking water containing 100 ppm of sodium arsenite ad libitum for 30 and 60 days. Lyophilized kidneys sectioned from normal and treated rats were scanned with a collimated white synchrotron spectrum (300 x 300 pm). The accumulation of arsenic and copper in the rat kidney induced by arsenic exposure was corroborated, and the spatial distributions of these elements were studied in detail. While copper was restricted to the renal cortex, arsenic showed changes in its spatial distribution suggesting nephrotoxicity. A correlation between the spatial distributions of zinc and arsenic was observed, which appears to be caused by the antioxidant properties of zinc. Chlorine and potassium also changed their spatial distributions under arsenic exposure, showing a correlation probably to maintain electrical neutrality. There were no significant changes in iron and bromine but the patterns of their spatial distributions were clearly identified. The obtained results show that mu-SRXRF is a very well-positioned and precise technique to detect the spatial distributions of elements in mammalian tissues in healthy and diseased conditions and suggest interesting hypotheses. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.