The onset and progression of many degenerative diseases including atherosclerosis, have been shown to directly link to the presence/absence of certain metal ions. Consequently, the detection of these ions in tissues may improve the understanding of the driving pathophysiology. The Cu content during atherosclerosis development has not been studied due to its low concentration involved. In this work, the Cu level in atherosclerotic rabbit tissue is determined using PIXE with a 3.5 MeV proton beam. The arteries of three animal groups fed with different diets were studied: group 1, rabbits on normal standard diet, group 2, on High Fat Diet (HFD) and group 3, on HFD + Zinc diet. Zinc supplement has been proven to inhibit the beginning of atherosclerotic lesion. The result of this study shows that the Cu levels in all the atherosclerotic lesions were lower than that in the arterial walls of the samples in HFD group.

已显示出许多退化性疾病（包括动脉粥样硬化）的发生和发展与某些金属离子的存在/不存在直接相关。因此，组织中这些离子的检测可以改善对驱动病理生理学的理解。由于动脉粥样硬化中的铜含量低，因此尚未对其进行研究。在这项工作中，使用带有3.5 MeV质子束的PIXE测定动脉粥样硬化兔组织中的铜水平。研究了用不同饮食喂养的三个动物组的动脉：第1组，接受正常标准饮食的兔子，第2组，接受高脂肪饮食（HFD），第3组，接受HFD +锌饮食。补锌已被证明可以抑制动脉粥样硬化病变的开始。