Elemental imaging of rat epididymis by micro-PIXE analysis

The epididymis, a male reproductive organ, which is a highly convoluted duct, plays an important role in transportation of spermatozoa, their maturation, and their storage. Although major elements, such as P, S and K, as well as trace elements, such as Mn, Cu, Zn, Se, are known to be essential for spermatogenesis, detailed distributions of the elements in the epididymis are only poorly understood. In the present study, Mn, Cu, Zn and Se levels in the epididymis were examined in male Wistar rats by inductively coupled argon plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis and in situ multi-elemental distributions of epididymal sections were determined by micro-PIXE (particle induced X-ray emission) analysis. The Zn, Cu and Se concentrations in the epididymis of the young adult rats were around 30 μg/g wet weight, 2 μg/g wet weight and 1 μg/g wet weight, respectively, and their Mn were less than 0.5 μg/g wet weight. PIXE imaging of P and K exhibited that P and K were higher in the epididymal epithelium. In contrast, more S was detected in the lumen, which is composed of spermatozoa and a fluid. Elemental imagings of the trace elements were unclear compared with the major elements, but information about zinc localization in the epididymis was obtained