title: Bismuth autometallography: protocol, specificity, and differentiation.
abstract: We provide a detailed protocol of the autometallographic bismuth technique and evaluate the specificity of the technique. We show by the multi-element technique "proton-induced X-ray microanalysis" (PIXE) that the autometallographic grains contain silver, bismuth, and sulfur, proving that autometallography can be used for specific tracing of bismuth bound as bismuth sulfide clusters in tissue sections from Bi-exposed animals or humans. In sections from animals exposed concurrently to selenium and bismuth, the autometallographic grains also contain selenium. This demonstrates that, if present in excess in the organisms, selenium will bind to exogenous bismuth, creating bismuth selenide clusters. As a further possible control for specificity and as a tool for differentiating among autometallographically detectable metals in sections containing more than one, we describe how bismuth sulfide clusters can be removed from Epon-embedded tissue sections by potassium cyanide.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology, Institute of Anatomy, University of Aarhus, Denmark. gd@neuro.au.dk
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Danscher
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stoltenberg
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kemp
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pamphlett
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001729:Bismuth / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011190:Potassium Cyanide; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012643:Selenium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity; D016622:Silver Staining / Q000379:methods; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D013440:Sulfides / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D013440:Sulfides; D012643:Selenium; D011190:Potassium Cyanide; D001729:Bismuth