Synchrotron microbeam detects trace of tin in rat sperm

A Japanese group is using a brilliant synchrotron microbeam at the SPring-8, Harima, Japan to study the marine pollution problem caused by organic tin compounds, which are known as environmental hormones because of their harmful influence on the endocrine system. The scientists attempted to determine Sn distribution in the testes of rats exposed to tributyltin chloride, which was orally administered to rats at a dose of 45 x 10^-6 mol/kg per day for 3 days. They employed a 37.5 keV X-ray beam of 3 x 3 micron² to detect Sn K X-ray fluorescence from the sperm of a seminiferous tubulem, the key point being that measurement can be performed for single cells, thus enabling cell-selective analysis. For more information, see the paper, "Tin accumulation in spermatozoa of rats exposed to tributyltin chloride by synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SR-XRF) analysis with microprobe", S. Homma-Takeda et al., Nucl. Instrum. & Methods, B231, 333-337 (2005).