Tissue preparation for elemental preservation of content in brain tissue for analysis by multidimensional label-free synchrotron-based x-ray fluorescence microscopy

Direct side-by-side comparison shows that plunge-freezing-based cryoimmobilization provides more faithful preservation than conventional chemical fixation for most biologically important elements including P, S, Cl, K, Fe, Cu, Zn and possibly Ca in biological material allowing a multidimensional label-free analysis of the local damage generated by neuro proteinopathies.