title: Multielemental bioimaging of tissues in children's environmental health research.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Metals play major roles in children's health and are associated with negative health outcomes via deficiency, overload, or toxicity. Constantly evolving analytical technology can provide new insight into how metal metabolism and exposure biology are intertwined in a range of biological matrices.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Exposure can occur prenatally as many metals cross the placental barrier. The placenta is permeable to many metal species, some through tightly regulated transporters, and others because of a limited capacity for detoxification. Postbirth, metal exposure continues to exert long-term health effects, ranging from exposure to exogenous heavy metals, such as lead, to overload of otherwise essential metals, including manganese. Increasing evidence supports the existence of critical developmental windows when susceptibility to toxicants and nutritional deficiencies is highest. Elemental imaging technology provides microspatial information on metal uptake and retention across tissue architecture, which provides important insights into exposure and biologic response.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Imaging the spatial distribution of elements, both essential and toxic, provides information that bulk measures cannot, including cell-specific distributions and timing of exposure.
authors: Elemental Bio-imaging Facility, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, New South Wales, Australia.
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: Austinc
authors: Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
authors: Megan M
authors: MM
authors: Niedzwiecki
authors: Senator Frank R. Lautenberg Environmental Health Sciences Laboratory, Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA.
authors: Manish
authors: M
authors: Arora
mesh_terms: D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis; D004782:Environmental Health; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange / Q000502:physiology; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D010920:Placenta / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D019216:Metals, Heavy