Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed tools for studying the chemistry of the brain, neuron by neuron. The analytical techniques can probe the spatial and temporal distribution of biologically important molecules, such as vitamin E, and explore the chemical messengers behind thought, memory and emotion.

"In most organ tissues of the body, adjacent cells do not have significant differences in their chemical contents," said Jonathan Sweedler, a William H. and Janet Lycan Professor of Chemistry and director of the Biotechnology Center at the U. of I. "In the brain, however, chemical differences between neurons are critical for their operation, and the connections between cells are crucial for encoding information or controlling functions."

By dismantling a slice of brain tissue into millions of single cell-size pieces, each of which can be interrogated by mass spectrometric imaging techniques, Sweedler's research group can perform cellular profiling, examine intercellular signaling, map the distribution of new neuropeptides, and follow the release of chemicals in an activity-dependent manner.

Sweedler will describe the techniques and present new results at the 230th American Chemical Society national meeting in Washington, D.C. Using these techniques, Sweedler's group has already discovered multiple novel neuropeptides in a range of neuronal models from mollusks to mammals.

"We work with sea slugs, whose simple brains contain 10,000 neurons; we work with insects possessing one million neurons; and we work with mice having 100 million neurons," said Sweedler, who also is a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. "
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Contact: James E. Kloeppel, Physical Sciences Editor
kloeppel@uiuc.edu
217-244-1073
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
31-Aug-2005