Application of X-ray absorption and X-ray fluorescence techniques to the study of metallodrug action.

X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence microscopy are two synchrotron-based techniques frequently deployed either individually or in tandem to investigate the fates of metallodrugs and their biotransformation products in physiologically relevant sample material. These X-ray methods confer advantages over other analytical techniques in that they are nondestructive and require minimal chemical or physical manipulation of the sample before analysis, conserving both chemical and spatial information of the element(s) under investigation. In this review, we present selected examples of the use of X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence microscopy in studies of metallodrug speciation and localisation in vivo, in cell spheroids and in intact tissues and organs, and offer recent highlights in the advances of these techniques as they pertain to research on metallodrug action.