[Protein arrays: applications and implications in neuroscience]

Genomics is bringing great advances into biomedical research that could help us to understand the physiopathology of diseases, and to find the features that differ disease from health. To understand the development of a given pathology, a global study is necessary that includes apart from the morphological and genomic study, analysis of protein interactions, the modifications that suffer their structure and even the changes in their concentration, as they are key molecules in the structure of the alive beings and in the execution of the biological processes.

With the purpose of studying these aspects different technological boardings have been developed, protein arrays among them. These incorporate different methodologies, many of them are appropriate to detect postranscriptional modifications, and other ones are optimized for protein quantification. In this review different methodological boardings and the possible applications of those arrays are discussed. This tool is adapted for the comparative study of protein expression profiles of different structures and metabolic situations. The aim is to consider protein arrays like a tool to study the proteome in neuroscience.

After validating biomarkers of clinical relevance discovered using protein arrays, this technology is a promising step in the road toward the development of early diagnosis protocols. To be able to validate the results, technological advance must be highlighted and an international consensus must be reached in different methodological aspects. These aspects will include normalisation and quantification of the signal produced.