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. 2022 Jul;71(1):2-6.
doi: 10.3164/jcbn.21-170. Epub 2022 Mar 31.

Recent advances in copper analyses by inorganic mass spectrometry

Yasumitsu Ogra  1 , Yu-Ki Tanaka  1 , Noriyuki Suzuki  1
Affiliations

Recent advances in copper analyses by inorganic mass spectrometry

Yasumitsu Ogra et al. J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Copper (Cu) participates in the biological redox reaction in the body, and its deficiency is fatal to the body. At the same time, Cu is extremely toxic when it exists in excess. Thus, the body has to tightly and spatiotemporally regulate the concentration of Cu within a physiological range by several groups of Cu-regulating proteins. However, entire mechanisms underlying the maintenance of Cu homeostasis in body and cells have not fully understood. It is necessary to analyze Cu itself in a body and in a cell to reveal the Cu homeostasis. In this review, recent advances in the analytical techniques to understand the Cu metabolism such as speciation, imaging and single-cell analysis of Cu were highlighted.

Keywords: ICP-MS; copper; imaging; laser ablation; speciation.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Advanced techniques using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer for copper analysis in biological samples. Speciation by LC-ICP-MS (A), Imaging by LA-ICP-MS (B), and Single cell analysis by SC-ICP-MS (C).
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Elution profile of Cu in the supernatant of wild type and blotchy mutant (Atp7a deficient) mice. The tissue supernatant was prepared from the liver (A) and the kidney (B) of wild type (upper lines) and blotchy (lower lines) mice.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Transient signals and histogram of metal content obtained by SC-ICP-MS.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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