The application of x-ray analysis in the transmission electron analytical microscope (T.E.A.M.) to the quantitative bulk analysis of biological microsamples.

This paper describes: (a)methods for the high and low temperature ashing of biological tissue samples about 10(-4)-10(-5) g in weight; (b)a method of spraying the solubilized ash on to specimen grids which produces droplets of a size convenient for their quantitative analysis in a transmission electron analytical microscope (T.E.A.M.), but without the need to know the actual volume of individual droplets; (c)the construction of standard curves for determining the absolute concentration of Na, Mg, P, S, K, and Ca simultaneously in a given sample. For most of the elements the error in analysis was about 5% or less. It was proposed that the technique is useful for detecting local element-compartments in complex tissues, and thus may be an important aid in the interpretation of the results of point analyses performed on sections taken from adjacent micro-volumes.