Microradiography as a tool to detect heavy metal uptake in plants for phytoremediation applications.
In this paper, an application of contact microradiography with soft X-rays for detecting the uptake site of heavy metal in the whole plant leaves is investigated. The X-ray source is a laser-plasma one based on an Nd:glass laser. The soft X-ray radiation emitted from the plasma laser targets of magnesium, iron, and copper can be strongly absorbed in the leaves' regions rich in iron, magnesium, and copper. This absorbance could point to structures in the leaves where these heavy elements are found. In this work, leaves treated with copper sulfate diluted in water at 1, 2, and 5% were imaged by using a copper target, in order to evaluate differences with untreated control leaves. Our results showed that this methodology highlighted the presence of copper in the treated leaves. This new methodology should detect heavy element pollutants inside plants and it should also be a useful analytic tool in phytoremediation studies.
Reale
Lucia
L
Università di L'Aquila, Dipartimento di Fisica and INFM, INFN-LNGS- L'Aquila, Italy. lucia.reale@gmail.com
Lai
Antonia
A
Bellucci
Ida
I
Faenov
Anatoly
A
Pikuz
Tatiana
T
Flora
Francesco
F
Spanò
Laura
L
Poma
Anna
A
Limongi
Tania
T
Palladino
Libero
L
Ritucci
Antonio
A
Tomassetti
Giuseppe
G
Petrocelli
Giovanni
G
Martellucci
Sergio
S
D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000378:metabolism*; D008852:Microradiography / Q000379:methods*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000378:metabolism; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*
D019216:Metals, Heavy; D003300:Copper; D007501:Iron