Spectroscopic and morphological information of the laser induced plasma for soft tissues

abstract

en

Versatility of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) allows to examine wide range of samples in all state phases. This also leads to opportunity for using LIBS for detecting trace elements in soft tissues (Šindelářová, et al , 2019). These elements, such as Zn, Cu, Na, K, Fe etc. are present in soft tissues at certain regulated amount, specific to each tissue. Dysregulations in their concentration can lead to or be a marker for diseased tissue, therefore their amount needs to be monitored (Busser, et al, 2018). In this work we observed Na and K elements in mouse kidneys as well as morphology of the plasma under different laser fluences. As for morphology of the plasma, we acquired pictures simultaneously while gathering spectroscopic data from the plasma. Therefore, we could observe size of the plasma that corresponded with LIBS spectrum. Signal to Noise ratio (SNR), size of the plasma and diameter of the craters are compared, and their correlation is observed. Based on the correlation we discuss the possibilities of expanding amount of data for processing, that could potentially lead to improving precision of the method for this type of experiment. This could have great impact for testing soft tissues since the signal from LIBS suffers from high heterogeneity of the samples as well as from method and system of preparing the samples. Combination of spectroscopic and morphological data could bring better insight to laser-matter interaction, that would also improve for example precision or Limit of Detection (LoD) of LIBS.

Versatility of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) allows to examine wide range of samples in all state phases. This also leads to opportunity for using LIBS for detecting trace elements in soft tissues (Šindelářová, et al , 2019). These elements, such as Zn, Cu, Na, K, Fe etc. are present in soft tissues at certain regulated amount, specific to each tissue. Dysregulations in their concentration can lead to or be a marker for diseased tissue, therefore their amount needs to be monitored (Busser, et al, 2018). In this work we observed Na and K elements in mouse kidneys as well as morphology of the plasma under different laser fluences. As for morphology of the plasma, we acquired pictures simultaneously while gathering spectroscopic data from the plasma. Therefore, we could observe size of the plasma that corresponded with LIBS spectrum. Signal to Noise ratio (SNR), size of the plasma and diameter of the craters are compared, and their correlation is observed. Based on the correlation we discuss the possibilities of expanding amount of data for processing, that could potentially lead to improving precision of the method for this type of experiment. This could have great impact for testing soft tissues since the signal from LIBS suffers from high heterogeneity of the samples as well as from method and system of preparing the samples. Combination of spectroscopic and morphological data could bring better insight to laser-matter interaction, that would also improve for example precision or Limit of Detection (LoD) of LIBS.

LIBS, plasma morphology, soft tissues

21.09.2020

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