Microscale imaging of Sr-90 using laser ablation-ICP mass spectrometry

Yanagisawa, Kayo; Matsueda, Makoto   ; Furukawa, Makoto*; Hirata, Takafumi*; Takagai, Yoshitaka*

Sr-90 has chemical properties similar to those of Ca and is locally deposited in bones and teeth after being taken into the body. The environmental transfer and metabolism in the body have attracted much interest since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F). Laser ablation (LA)-ICP-MS is a direct solid-state analysis method with excellent sensitivity and spatial resolution, making it useful for imaging analysis to obtain images of elemental distributions on the surface layer of analytes. However, it has been difficult to accurately detect trace amounts of Sr-90 due to interference from isobaric and polyatomic ions with mass-to-charge ratios (m/z) close to Sr-90. This method shows that Sr-90 distribution on the sample surface can be determined even in the presence of interfering elements by using LA-ICP-MS/MS equipped with a dynamic reaction cell (DRC).