SYNCHROTRON SPECTROMICROSCOPY IN BIOPHYSICS - SPECIFICITY OF METAL UPTAKE BY NEURONS

Recent instrumentation advances have made it possible to apply experimental synchrotron radiation techniques of materials science to biophysics problems. We present the first results of a systematic photoelectron spectromicroscopy study of the interaction between metals and neurons in vitro. The main result is that aluminum is not uptaken by granule cells-the most common type of neurons-but it is selectively uptaken by cells such as Purkinje neurons and glial cells. On the contrary, granule cells are capable to uptake other metals like Ni and Co.