Study of histological sections of muscle tissues using X-ray fluorescence and Raman spectromicroscopy

The paper presents the results of a study of the chemical composition of myocardial tissues and striated muscles at the cellular level using a combination of X-ray fluorescence microscopy and Raman microspectrosopy. The distribution of inorganic materials (Na, Si, Ca, etc.) was measured with the help of X-ray fluorescence imaging and microanalysis workstations at ELETTRA synchrotron (Italy). Methods of infrared Raman spectromicroscopy were applied for the identification of organic compounds (lipids, amides, and polysaccharides). All experiments were carried out with unstained paraffin-embedded histological sections. The research was related to the study of sodium deposits in muscle tissues.