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X-Ray Microscopy for Detection of Metals in the Brain

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Book cover Metals in the Brain

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 124))

Abstract

X-rays have the advantage that they have a short wavelength and can penetrate through a thick biological sample. It was the need to “see inside” opaque objects, especially biological tissues, and to resolve features too small for optical microscopes or too thick for electron microscopes, that spurred the development of X-ray microscopes. Their much shorter wavelength means they are less hindered by the diffraction limit which has historically limited spatial observation to micro dimensions for visible or UV light. Many of the X-ray microscopy techniques that provide the greatest sensitivity and specificity for trace metal concentrations in biological materials are emerging at synchrotron X-ray facilities. Here, the extremely high flux available across a wide range of soft and hard X-rays, combined with state-of-the-art focusing techniques and ultra-sensitive detectors, makes it viable to undertake direct imaging of the metal elements in brain tissue. In this chapter we discuss the particular role of X-ray methods for imaging of accumulated metal species and metal-containing compounds in biological materials, particularly brain tissue. We discuss methods for synchrotron imaging of metals in brain tissues at regional, cellular, and subcellular spatial resolution.

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Acknowledgments

JFC acknowledges support for this work from EPSRC grant EP/K035193/1, and thanks Diamond Light Source for access to beamline I18 (SP1125) that contributed to the material presented here, and the Advanced Light Source for access to beamline 11.0.2. The Advanced Light Source is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Dr. M.R. Davidson, University of Florida, is acknowledged for introducing the thin phosphor screen concept for real-time focused beam visualization. Selected text in this chapter is reprinted from Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, DOI: 10.1016/j.sab.2017.02.013, J.F. Collingwood and F. Adams, Chemical imaging analysis of the brain with X-ray methods, Copyright 2017, with permission from Elsevier.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Library Road, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Joanna F. Collingwood

  2. University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium

    Freddy Adams

Authors
  1. Joanna F. Collingwood
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  2. Freddy Adams
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joanna F. Collingwood .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Anthony R. White

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Collingwood, J.F., Adams, F. (2017). X-Ray Microscopy for Detection of Metals in the Brain. In: White, A. (eds) Metals in the Brain. Neuromethods, vol 124. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6918-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6918-0_2

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6916-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6918-0

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