Rationale:Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal lung disease characterised by impaired breathing and fatigue, partly, due to a prominent scarring of the lung Extracellular Matrix (ECM). Some studies have shown a role of iron (Fe), Calcium (Ca) and Zinc (Zn) in the development of the disease, however, scarce information is known about the link to fibrosis. Synchrotron X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) allows the analysis of most of the periodic table elements with nanometric resolution. Aim:To explore the elemental aspects on IPF human lung samples by XRF. Methods:Distal lung from healthy and IPF individues were fixated, dehydrated and embedded in epoxy resin, cured at 65 °C during 72h and sectioned at 1 µm thickness. The slices were mounted on Si₃N₄ membranes and scanned at the NanoMAX beamline (MAX IV) using a photon energy of 10 keV at 100 nm steps. Adjacent slices were stained for cell type specific and ECM proteins. Results:IPF samples displayed increased number of anthracotic particulates that showed a heterogeneous coating of several trace elements such as Titanium, Copper and Chromium. Additionally, IPF tissue displayed increased amounts of accumulated particulates with a high content of Ca, Zn and Phosphorus (P). Finally, in specific cells, we found IPF displayed accumulated cytosolic Fe colocalized with sulphur (S) within granule-like structures (<1 µm). Conclusion:To our knowledge, this is the first study focused on the elemental aspects on IPF human samples. Our data suggest an important role of Fe, S, Ca and Zn dysregulation in IPF. Correlative imaging as performed here opens an avenue to study lung diseases displaying also an elemental imbalance.