Journal
ULTRAMICROSCOPY
Volume 231, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultramic.2021.113254
Keywords
Alzheimer's disease; Valence; Oxidation; Electron energy loss spectroscopy; X-ray dispersive spectroscopy; Focused-ion beam; Magnetic resonance imaging
Categories
Funding
- National Institute of Aging of the National Institutes of Health, United States [R01AG061120]
- Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence for Translational Diagnostics (CCNE-TD) at Stanford University from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), United States [U54 CA199075]
- National Science Foundation, United States [ECCS-1542152]
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Abnormal accumulation of inorganic trace elements in the human brain, such as iron, zinc, and aluminum, is pathologically linked to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. Specifically, the presence of ferrous ions in brain tissues of AD patients has been associated with oxidative damage. Using physical science methods like X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy can provide unique insights into the chemical composition of these deposits.
Abnormal accumulation of inorganic trace elements in a human brain, such as iron, zinc and aluminum, oftentimes manifested as deposits and accompanied by a chemical valence change, is pathologically relevant to various neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, Fe2+ has been hypothesized to produce free radicals that induce oxidative damage and eventually cause Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, traditional biomedical techniques, e.g. histology staining, are limited in studying the chemical composition and valence states of these inorganic deposits. We apply commonly used physical (phys-) science methods such as X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), focused-ion beam (FIB) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) in transmission electron microscopy in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), histology and optical microscopy (OM) to study the valence states of iron deposits in AD patients. Ferrous ions are found in all deposits in brain tissues from three AD patients, constituting 0.22-0.50 of the whole iron content in each specimen. Such phys-techniques are rarely used in medical science and have great potential to provide unique insight into biomedical problems.
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