Abstract
The basic hypothesis being tested is that, in Alzheimer's disease (AD), the delicate balance of brain Zn is disrupted and may play a role in the pathogenesis of neuron degeneration. Micro-PIXE measurements reveal a significant elevation of Zn in senile plaques (SP) in AD brain compared with adjacent neuropil and a significant increase in AD neuropil compared to control neuropil. The observation of elevated Zn in SP is of interest because the amyloid precursor protein contains a Zn binding site that may prevent normal cleavage leading to the generation of a toxic fragment of beta amyloid, the constituent of SP. The potential of using laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry as a complimentary microprobe technique is also presented.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 454-458 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms |
| Volume | 189 |
| Issue number | 1-4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2002 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding for this work was provided by NIH Grants 5-P01-AG05119, 5-P50-AG05144 and 1R01-AG16269 and by a grant from the Abercrobmie Foundation. The authors thank Ela Patel for tissue immunostaining and Barry Higgins for assistance with the LA-ICP-MS measurements.
Keywords
- Alzheimer's disease
- Brain
- LA-ICP-MS
- Micro-PIXE
- Zinc
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics
- Instrumentation