Proteomic studies on the development of the central nervous system and beyond

Neuroproteomics has become a 'symbol' or even a 'sign' for neuroscientists in the post-genomic era. During the last several decades, a number of proteomic approaches have been used widely to decipher the complexity of the brain, including the study of embryonic stages of human or non-human animal brain development. The use of proteomic techniques has allowed for great scientific advancements, including the quantitative analysis of proteomic data using 2D-DIGE, ICAT and iTRAQ. In addition, proteomic studies of the brain have expanded into fields such as subproteomics, synaptoproteomics, neural plasma membrane proteomics and even mitochondrial proteomics. The rapid progress that has been made in this field will not only increase the knowledge based on the neuroproteomics of the developing brain but also help to increase the understanding of human neurological diseases. This paper will focus on proteomic studies in the central nervous system and especially those conducted on the development of the brain in order to summarize the advances in this rapidly developing field.