Three-dimensional correlative imaging of a malaria-infected cell with a hard X-ray nanoprobe

Y. Yang (1) , F. Fus (2) , A. Pacureanu (2) , Julio Cesar da Silva (2) , W. de Nolf (2) , C. Biot (3) , S. Bohic (2) , P. Cloetens (2)

1 Department of Mechanical Engineering [Hong Kong]
2 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
3 Université de Lille, Sciences et Technologies

Benefiting from the recent advances of synchrotron X-ray nanoprobes, we demonstrate three-dimensional (3D) correlative nano-imaging on malaria-infected human red blood cells. By combining X-ray fluorescence to-mography and phase contrast nanotomography on the same cell with sub-100 nm pixel size, we establish a routine workflow from the data acquisition, data processing to tomographic reconstruction. We quantitatively compare the elemental volumes obtained with different reconstruction methods, the total variation minimization giving the most satisfactory results. We reveal elemental correlations in different cell compartments more reliably on reconstructions as opposed to 2D projections. Finally, we determine for the first time the 3D mass fraction maps of multiple elements at sub-cellular level. The estimated total number of Fe atoms and the total mass of the red blood cell show very good agreement with previously reported values.

Domaines: Imagerie; Organisation et fonctions cellulaires [q-bio.SC]; Traitement du signal et de l'image [eess.SP]; Chimie analytique

Y. Yang, F. Fus, A. Pacureanu, Julio Cesar da Silva, W. de Nolf, et al.. Three-dimensional correlative imaging of a malaria-infected cell with a hard X-ray nanoprobe. Analytical Chemistry, 2019, 91 (10), pp.6549-6554. ⟨10.1021/acs.analchem.8b05957⟩. ⟨hal-02900772⟩