Nanoscale chemical imaging of phagocytosis: A battle for metals between host and microbe.

ABSTRACT: The human body employs nutritional immunity to restrict essential micronutrients, such as zinc, from invading pathogens, impeding their growth and replication. Here, we applied an advanced nanochemical imaging technique, synchrotron radiation-based X-ray fluorescence (SR-XRF), on vitrified polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) during the occurrence of phagocytosis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nanoscopic SR-XRF provided trace elemental distributions at 50 nm spatial resolution, revealing the metal interplay between PMNs and S. cerevisiae. Our results were complemented with X-ray holographic nanotomography (XNH), confirming phagocytosis and providing complementary intracellular morphological information. A systematic decrease in zinc was observed between free and phagocytosed S. cerevisiae wi

SUBMITTER: Ullah N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12405629 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature