The cytochemistry of anaplastic thyroid tumour cells and differentiated thyrocytes analyzed by TOF-SIMS and depth profiling

The depth profiling procedure was utilized to compare the chemistry of anaplastic thyroid tumour cells SW1736 with that of primary cultured pig thyrocytes. Sputtering was performed with SF5+ and C60+ as primary ions and Bi3+ was used as primary ion for the analysis. The spectra from cells prior to sputtering, representing the cell surface chemistry, showed similar distribution patterns and intensity ratios. However, the peaks representing cholesterol signal and lipoxin were significantly higher in the tumour cell samples. The spectra from sputtered samples, representing intracellular chemistry, showed a significant decrease in the number of detectable peaks, especially after sputtering with SF5+. Sputtering conditions must be further developed to make the technique useful for detailed analysis of cells.