Abstract: The trace elements distribution embedded in bone offers a means to study exposure of toxic metals and allows the reconstruction of dietary behaviour. The quantification of most of the elements with a spatial high resolution (5 μm) is routinely achieved using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). However, the lack of a comprehensive framework of trace elements distribution in bone jeopardizes any endorsed sampling strategy using LA-ICP-MS. The present work is an effort to improve our knowledge on this issue. We studied a femur bone head treated with La2O3NPs at 1.0 mg kg−1 (T1), 10.0 mg kg−1 (T2), and 100 mg kg−1 (T3) body weight (bw) and the control rats (CTR). Using LA-ICP-MS, we measured Ca, Cu, Zn, Ni, Sr, Ba and Pb in a cross section of the femur bone head, where higher amounts of the elements are present at the external part of the bone. Calcium concentrations are higher in control than in the La2O3NPs treated bone. The Pb/Ca, Cu/Ca, Ni/Ca, Zn/Ca, Sr/Ca and Ba/ Ca ratios were higher in control femur head but vary within T1, T2 and T3 body weight (bw). Considering the Ca-normalized bone variations of Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, Sr and Ba, it was demonstrated that La2O3NPs are incorporated on the surface of the bone and it has a small influence on some of the other elements evaluated.

Bone, Laser ablation, Strontium, Barium, Bio-imaging, Nanoparticle