Sub-cellular elemental imaging of human muscle tissues affected by neuromuscular diseases

Abstract

Various types of neuromuscular diseases differ in symptoms, pathology, and clinical picture but one of their common elements is muscle weakness, which could lead to human motor activities impairment and in many cases to shortening of life span and even death due to respiratory failure. That is why it is very important to better understand the underlying causes of these diseases to be able to implement new methods of treatment more effectively. This paper presents the results of the elemental analysis of human muscular tissues affected by dystrophy and myopathy. For this purpose, the particle-induced X-ray emission method was used, which is perfectly suited for measuring light elements. The samples were analysed for differences in the elemental composition of Na, Mg, P, S, Cl, K, Fe, Zn, and Br. The results were presented in the form of elemental concentration maps and a thorough statistical analysis of the obtained data using the advanced statistical methods.