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Intracellular localization of samarium in the lactating mammary gland cells: Ultrastructural and microanalytical study
Author(s) -
Ahlem Ayadi,
Samira Maghraoui,
JeanNicolas Audinot,
MohamedHabib Jaafoura,
HenriNoël Migeon,
Ali El Hili,
Leila Tekaya
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
microscopy research and technique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1097-0029
pISSN - 1059-910X
DOI - 10.1002/jemt.21076
Subject(s) - samarium , intracellular , ultrastructure , mammary gland , chemistry , microanalysis , endoplasmic reticulum , organelle , transmission electron microscopy , pathology , biology , endocrinology , medicine , biochemistry , materials science , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , cancer , breast cancer , nanotechnology
Abstract The frequent use of some rare earths in the medical and industrial domains make us worry about their intracellular behavior into the body. Reason for which we have investigated the subcellular localization of one of these elements, the samarium, in the mammary gland of lactating female wistar rats using two very sensitive methods of observation and microanalysis, the transmission electron microscopy and the secondary ion mass spectrometry. The ultrastructural study showed the presence of electron dense deposits in the lactating mammary glandular epithelial cell lysosomes of the samarium‐treated rats, but no loaded lysosomes were observed in those of control rats. The microanalytical study allowed both the identification of the chemical species present in those deposits as samarium isotopes ( 152 Sm + ) and the cartography of its distribution. Our results confirm the previous ones showing that lysosomes of the glandular epithelial cells are the site of the intracellular concentration of foreign elements such as gallium. The intralysosomal deposits observed in the mammary glandular cells of the samarium‐treated rats are similar in their form and density to those observed with the same element in other varieties of cells, such as liver, bone marrow, and spleen cells. Our ultrastructural and microanalytical results and those obtained in previous studies allow deducing that the intralysosomal deposits are very probably composed of an insoluble samarium phosphate salt. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.