Determination of calcium content in human bone by pixe technique

The determination of calcium content in human bone tissue is very useful in metabolic diseases of bone such as renal osteodystrophy, osteoporosis, hyperparathyroidism and ostemalacia of diverse etiology. PIXE technique allows calcium to be directly determined in bioptic tissue sections properly sampled for histological optical and/or electron microscopy examination. Bone semithin sections (3 μm thick, 4x4 mm/sup 2/ dimensions) cut by ultramicrotome and deposited onto polyvinyl acetate films underwent PIXE analysis using the CISE set-up. Histomorphometric (after standard straining) evaluation of calcified bone volume (CBV) in absolute value allows calcium density to be determined. A total of 9 bone biopsies were analyzed (3 sections each one) obtaining values ranging between 352 and 482 with an average value of 421.5+-15.3 (M+-SE) μgμl in good agreement with literature data (obtained by AAS technique on dissected bone samples). The aim of this paper is to emphasize the usefulness of combined PIXE and histomorphometric techniques for the study of calcium content in bone tissue in both healthy and diseased bones