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Characterization of metal element distributions in the rat brain following ischemic stroke by synchrotron radiation micro-fluorescence analysis

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Abstract

Ischemic stroke is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and effective treatment strategies in the chronic phase of this disease remain insufficient. Homeostasis of metals in the brain plays an important role in maintaining normal brain function. However, the dynamic spatial distributions of iron, zinc, calcium, potassium, and copper in a rat brain following ischemic stroke and the association between structural distribution and function remain to be elucidated. In this study, we used a synchrotron radiation-based micro-X-ray fluorescence technique to image element mapping changes in special rat brain regions after ischemic stroke, showing the distribution characteristics of iron, zinc, calcium, potassium, and copper. We demonstrated, for the first time, the consistent dynamic spatial distributions of metal elements at a series of time points (3 h, 4.5 h, 6 h, 12 h, 1 d, 3 d, 5 d, 7 d, 10 d, 14 d, 28 d) after brain ischemia, which revealed that the homeostasis of iron, zinc, calcium, potassium, and copper in the brain was disturbed with distinctive change trends, providing clear insights in understanding the underlying pathogenesis of stroke from a novel perspective, thus laying the foundation of further developing new drug targets for stroke treatment.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the staff at the BL15U station of SSRF for their kind assistance during the experiments.

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  1. Shu-Peng Shi, Hui Wang, and Zhuo-Hui Chen contributed equally to the work described in this paper.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, China

    Shu-Peng Shi, Hui Wang, Zhuo-Hui Chen, Xiao-Han Li, Shi-Xin Liu & Meng-Qi Zhang

  2. National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, China

    Meng-Qi Zhang

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All animal experiments were approved by the Experimental Zoology Department of Central South University and performed following Central South University experimental welfare ethics review standards on the use of animals in research.

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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81501025) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (Nos. 2020JJ4134 and 2016JJ3174).

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Shi, SP., Wang, H., Chen, ZH. et al. Characterization of metal element distributions in the rat brain following ischemic stroke by synchrotron radiation micro-fluorescence analysis. NUCL SCI TECH 31, 96 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41365-020-00807-5

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