20.500.12556/RUL-182377 Integrated laser ablation and computed tomography detecting the chemical footprint of microplastics and reconstructing 3D biological tissues Detecting and characterizing microplastics within biological tissues remains analytically challenging due to their small size, complex composition, and the heterogeneous nature of biological matrices. Existing methods often rely on destructive sample preparation or only provide partial information, highlighting the need for advanced techniques that can simultaneously resolve both the structural and chemical features of microplastics in situ. To address this gap, we introduce a multimodal analytical approach that integrates micro-computed tomography (μCT), which enables non-invasive volumetric imaging of the tissue with laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to detect microplastics based on their metal markers. Rat tissue was spiked with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) microplastics, and results showed that μCT imaging alone was insufficient for definitively determining microplastics. However, PET contained several elements, such as antimony and cobalt, and it was possible to detect PET microplastics using LA-ICP-MS based on those metal markers. Furthermore, the developed workflow combining μCT and LA-ICP-MS enabled volumetric segmentation of microplastic reconstruction based on their 3D distribution and evaluation of their size distribution. The results demonstrate that integrating LA-ICP-MS spatial element mapping of PET metal markers facilitates precise validation and segmentation of microplastic locations within tissue on μCT. The proposed protocol was evaluated against a reference size distribution method, addressing the associated detection limitations. Overall, this dual-modality approach provides a proof of concept for microplastic detection in biological tissues by combining both structural and chemical analyses. microplastics X-ray computed tomography laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry imaging dual modality metal markers mikroplastika rentgenska računalniška tomografija laserska ablacija z induktivno sklopljeno plazemsko masno spektrometrijo slikanje dvojna modalnost kovinski markerji true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2026-05-08 13:04:52 2026-05-08 13:04:53 2026-05-10 04:14:21 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 9 str. Vol. 308, art. 129794 1 Oct. 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 543:504.5:678:543 0039-9140 10.1016/j.talanta.2026.129794 277326339 RAZ_Biskupic_Jan_2026.pdf RAZ_Biskupic_Jan_2026.pdf 1 C379569A9D4E68CB0FA5643B9524C157 d4473e9643bfa6c5c397ecc147e9b2cd5c4bc08c13d4fe8302e1ebf9124c7fb8 698190d2-4ace-11f1-b0ab-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=233571 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0039914026004509 1 72da49e4-4acd-11f1-b0ab-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=233570 Fakulteta za kemijo in kemijsko tehnologijo 0 0 0