Neurometallomics
The bioinorganic chemistry of metal ions is often a double-edged sword for the brain, as metal ions are both essential for healthy brain function but, also an active participant in pathological pathways of neurodegeneration. Although the importance of metal ions in brain health and disease is well recognised, the metallome of the brain remains far from understood. Increased efforts at characterising the neurometallome are expected to drive increased mechanistic understanding of how metal ions facilitate key functions of the brain (e.g., memory), as well as their involvement in disease pathways. In order to progress research in this area, continued development of appropriate research tools, such as chemical probes, direct spectroscopic imaging methods is needed. In addition, integration of new analysis tools with cutting edge technologies to link the metallome to other “omes” (e.g., proteome, lipidome, metabolome) is highly encouraged.
The accompanying papers of this special issue highlight recent developments in the field of neurometallomics, including original articles describing new knowledge of the neurometallome, as well as methodological advancements for detecting metal ions in brain cells. In addition, this collection of articles contains several timely reviews, capturing important progress in this field. We hope that this special issue will be useful to the wider Metallomics community, in addition to the related communities of neuroscience, neuroimaging, bioinorganic chemistry, and analytical chemistry.
Metal homeostasis in the nervous system is subtly regulated and changes in metal distribution or content, either increases or decreases, are associated with neurodegeneration or cognitive impairment. Determining the localization and quantification of metals in different types of neurons is ...
The brain is a privileged organ with regard to its trace element composition and maintains a robust barrier system to sequester this specialized environment from the rest of the body and the vascular system. Stroke is caused by loss of adequate blood flow to a region of the brain. Without adequate ...
Disrupted copper availability in the central nervous system (CNS) is implicated as a significant feature of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Solute carrier family 31 member 1 (Slc31a1; Ctr1) governs copper uptake in mammalian cells and mutations affecting Slc31a1 ...
The basal levels as the labile Zn 2+ pools in the extracellular and intracellular compartments are in the range of ∼10 nM and ∼100 pM, respectively. The influx of extracellular Zn 2+ is used for memory via cognitive activity and is regulated for synaptic plasticity, a cellular mechanism of memory. ...
Ferric–tannic nanoparticles (FTs) are now considered to be new pharmaceuticals appropriate for the prevention of brain aging and related diseases. We have previously shown that FTs could activate axon guidance pathways and cellular clearance functioning in neuronal cell lines. Herein, we further ...
