Examples

Although plant leaves are rich sources of these elements, seeds show appreciable Cu concentrations. Copper is taken up as Cu⁺ by high-affinity transporters belonging to the copper transporter and/or as Cu²⁺ by Zinc transporters. Inside the cell, Cu⁺ is bound to metallotheioneins and Cu chaperone proteins, which deliver it to specific apoproteins to form biologically active Cu-proteins. Additionally, this element is involved in the detoxification or secretory pathways. Regarding phosphorous, its total concentration is mainly related to phytate concentrations in seeds and influenced by the application of P fertilizers and reduced by the application of Zn fertilizers. In this example, the distribution of ³¹P⁺ and ⁶³Cu⁺ were assessed in Arabidopsis thaliana seed, using ¹²C⁺ as internal standard. For acquiring this image, the distance among the lines was 15 µm, while scan speed was 10 µm s^-1, and the acquisition time was settled at 0.270 s.

Compositional data of coins constitute a fundamental tool in archaeological research, since this information can help to distinguish the geographical origin of the materials and the place of discovery. Additionally, a comparative analysis of the isotopic abundances in coins can be different, considering that metals used in the mintage were obtained from different mining areas. In this didactic example, the distribution of ⁶⁶Zn⁺ and ¹⁰⁷Ag⁺ was presented in a coin of 5 cent of Real (Brazilian coin), while ⁶³Cu⁺ or ¹²C⁺ were used as internal standards. Data are obtained by scanning of the sample surface as parallel lines to show the elemental distribution in the sample, and each line ablated was then recorded in different files. For the ablation process, 27 lines presenting the same size were drawn in an area of 2.43 mm², approximately. Some parameters used were the speed ablation (50 µm s^-1), and the ICP-MS acquisition time for each point was settled at 0.216 s. For providing the y-coordinate resolution, the distance among the lines was 60 µm for image building.