X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, an analytical tool in neurochemical research

The central nervous system (CNS) is undoubtedly the most complex structure in the human body. Metal ions play an important role in the normal functioning of this organ. Disturbances of metal ion homeostasis may lead to serious diseases of CNS. On the other hand, the abnormal accumulation of selected elements may be a result of pathological processes. The application of different analytical techniques to the determination of the normal and pathological accumulation of trace elements in human CNS tissue has proved to be popular in recent years. A review of current analytical activity for human CNS tissue is presented. Special attention is paid to the remarkable opportunities provided by using synchrotron radiation in elemental analysis. The results of application of synchrotron radiation x-ray fluorescence (SRXRF) as well as x-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy to investigate Parkinson's disease, amiotrophic lateral sclerosis and brain gliomas are shown. Topographic and quantitative analysis with the use of SRXRF allows the determination of minor and trace elements in thin tissue samples of human CNS at the single-cell level. The comparison between these pathological cases and control group pointed out differences in elemental composition of the tissues. Moreover, application of XANES spectroscopy made it possible to determine oxidation states of Fe and S in Parkinson-diseased tissue and brain gliomas. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.