Neuroscience and accelerator mass spectrometry.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical research
• Analytical chemistry
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is a highly sensitive technique for rare isotope quantification.
• Historically impactful in geochronology and archaeology, AMS is increasingly applied in biomedicine.
• AMS offers zepto- to attomole sensitivity, high precision, and throughput.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the applications of AMS in neurotoxicology and neuroscience.
• To highlight AMS's utility in sensitive biomedical studies.
• To demonstrate AMS's capability for low-dose and long-term investigations.

Main Methods:

• Quantification of radioisotopes (e.g., 3H, 14C, 26Al, 36Cl, 41Ca) using AMS.
• Enabling human pharmacokinetic studies with microgram doses.
• Facilitating toxicology studies with very low administered doses (<1 microg kg(-1)).

Main Results:

• AMS allows for safe human pharmacokinetic studies with minimal doses.
• The technique is crucial for studying long-term pharmacokinetics and biomolecular interactions.
• AMS enables the determination of chronic, low-dose effects and molecular targets of neurotoxic substances.
• Quantification of blood-brain barrier transport and human brain molecular turnover rates over decades is possible.

Conclusions:

• AMS is a powerful tool for advancing neurotoxicology and neuroscience research.
• Its high sensitivity and precision facilitate novel biomedical investigations.
• AMS supports critical studies on low-dose effects, long-term biological processes, and neurobiology.