Introduction and Overview

Abstract

Our understanding of how metals contribute to neural cell function and disease in the brain is rapidly evolving. A broad range of metals occur in the brain, from trace levels through to bulk amounts. Methods for measuring levels of metals and imaging metal localization are diverse and often prone to pitfalls associated with a lack of experience in the factors that affect metal detection. These include use of non-physiological metal treatments, fixation artifacts in tissues, mis-interpretation of data from metal-probes, and mis-understanding of the sensitivity and/or specificity of many techniques. This book is designed to bring together a well-considered selection of methods used by experienced metal researchers to aid investigators in their plans to examine metal levels or distribution in brain tissue or brain-derived cells and avoid many of the pitfalls that can lead to nonreproducible and artifact-prone data. The chapters following this introduction will provide a broad and where necessary in-depth coverage of the leading approaches used today for assessment of metal levels in brain, brain-derived cells, and in some cases serum (which can be used to provide important collorary information on neural metal levels). Subsequent chapters provide a more focused examination of the methodology and issues associated with measuring some of the more commonly studied brain metals. It is hoped that whether researchers read all the chapters or just a selection targeting their metal or technique of interest, they can take away important new insights to provide accurate and reproducible metal measurement relevant to brain tissue. These improvements will help the field to establish and maintain metal regulation as a critical aspect of brain function in health and disease.