title: Classification of nerve cells from substantia nigra of patients with Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with the use of X-ray fluorescence microscopy and multivariate methods.
abstract: The causes of Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are still not known, but there is evidence that metal ions can be involved in processes leading to degeneration and atrophy of neurons in the case of these two neurodegenerative disorders. A synchrotron microbeam X-ray fluorescence technique was applied for topographic and quantitative analyses of selected elements on central nervous system tissue. The thin slices of brain were measured on the undulator beamline ID 22 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France. The polychromatic beam with the dimension of 5 microm x 2 microm (horizontal x vertical) was used in measurements. Tissues of substantia nigra representing Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and the control case were scanned. The results obtained indicated that accumulation of some elements depends on the case that the substantia nigra represents. Some variability in the elemental distribution for a given case was noticed as well. To investigate if present differences in the elemental accumulation between analyzed cases are statistically significant, multivariate methods were used. Cluster and discriminant analyses confirmed the significance of the differences in elemental accumulation in biological structures representing the examined cases. The methods used let us classify these structures in separate groups and determine elements, which play the greatest role in the differentiation of the biological structures for each case.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiometry, Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, AGH-University of Science and Technology, Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Krakow, Poland. chwiej@novell.ftj.agh.edu.pl
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chwiej
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fik-Mazgaj
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Szczerbowska-Boruchowska
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lankosz
authors.forename: Jerzy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ostachowicz
authors.forename: Dariusz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adamek
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simionovici
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bohic
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008670:Metals / Q000032:analysis; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D009474:Neurons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D008670:Metals