title: Microradiography as a tool to detect heavy metal uptake in plants for phytoremediation applications.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Università di L'Aquila, Dipartimento di Fisica and INFM, INFN-LNGS- L'Aquila, Italy. lucia.reale@gmail.com
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reale
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bellucci
authors.forename: Anatoly
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Faenov
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pikuz
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Flora
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Spanò
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poma
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Limongi
authors.forename: Libero
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Palladino
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ritucci
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tomassetti
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Petrocelli
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martellucci
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D003300:Copper; D007501:Iron