Study of sodium depositions in heart interstitium using methods of X-ray absorption and X-ray fluorescence microscopy

To date there have been only indirect indications of the presence of bound sodium accumulation in muscle and skin tissues. Despite their osmotic inactivity, such sodium deposits can effect on mechanical properties of the heart muscle impairing its elasticity and leading to serious heart dysfunctions. In this work an accurate study of the chemical composition of the heart muscle tissue at the cellular level was carried out using the methods of X-ray absorption and fluorescence microscopy. The experiments were carried out on a TwinMic X-ray scanning microscope [3] at ELETTRA synchrotron (Italy) with a resolution of about 1 μm. Comparison of the obtained maps of intra-and extracellular sodium distribution in heart tissues of different laboratory animals has resulted in the first experimental confirmation of the hypotheses about the existence of deposited sodium states in the intercellular space. The paper demonstrates an example of the state-of-the-art medical applications of high spectral brilliance X-ray sources.