RESUMEN
Faster, more sensitive, and higher resolution quantitative instrumentation are aiding a deeper understanding of how inorganic chemistry regulates key biological processes. Researchers can now image and quantify metals with subcellular resolution, leading to a vast array of new discoveries in organismal development, pathology, and disease. Metals have recently been implicated in several diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimers, ischemic stroke, and colorectal cancer that would not be possible without these advancements. In this review, instead of focusing on instrumentation we focus on recent applications of label-free elemental imaging and quantification and how these tools can lead to a broader understanding of metals role in systems biology and human pathology.
Asunto(s)
Diagnóstico por Imagen , Metales , Diagnóstico por Imagen/métodos , Humanos , Iones , Espectrometría de Masas/métodosRESUMEN
Cephalopods are important in the diets of humans and many other apex predators, and can play an important role in the bioaccumulation of metals. In this study, metal concentrations were analysed in the commercially and ecologically important southern arrow squid, Nototodarus sloanii (Gray 1849), from a heavily targeted fisheries area on New Zealand's Chatham Rise. A variety of tissue types were compared in order to assess the bioaccumulation in edible tissues (mantle and arms) and other organs (digestive gland, kidney, and hearts). Although metal concentrations varied among tissue types, the highest concentrations were found in the digestive gland (for Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni, Zn) and branchial hearts (for Cr, U). We report the first Cd concentrations for N. sloanii from the Chatham Rise, with mean values of 3.11 µg. g-1 in the mantle and 102.53 µg. g-1 in the digestive gland. Our data suggest that concentrations observed in the mantle tissue (which forms the majority of the muscle tissue) and digestive gland (the primary organ for metal accumulation) can be used to estimate the animal's total body burden for all metals analysed. The toxicological and dietary consequences for predators (including humans) feeding on arrow squid can be inferred from measurements of mass and metal concentration in these tissues. Arrow squid represent an important vector for Cd transfer within the pelagic Chatham Rise food web. These are the first recorded baseline data for metal concentrations for any squid in this oceanic region.
Asunto(s)
Decapodiformes/metabolismo , Monitoreo del Ambiente , Metales/metabolismo , Contaminantes Químicos del Agua/metabolismo , Animales , Exposición Dietética/estadística & datos numéricos , Explotaciones Pesqueras , Cadena Alimentaria , Contaminación de Alimentos/estadística & datos numéricos , Humanos , Metales/análisis , Metales Pesados/análisis , Nueva Zelanda , Océanos y Mares , Alimentos Marinos/estadística & datos numéricos , Contaminantes Químicos del Agua/análisisRESUMEN
The 2nd Mexican Drosophila Research Conference (MexFly) took place on June 30th and July 1st, 2016 in Mexico City, at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (Cinvestav). Principal investigators, postdocs, students, and technicians from Drosophila labs across Mexico attended. The guest speaker was Chris Rushlow from New York University, who presented work on Zelda, a key transcriptional activator of the early zygotic genome. Here we provide a brief report of the meeting, which sketches the present landscape of Drosophila research in Mexico. We also provide a brief historical note on one of the pioneers of the field in this country, Victor Salceda, personally trained by Theodosius Dobzhansky. Salceda presented at the meeting an update of his collaborative project with Dobzhansky on the distribution of Drosophila pseudoobscura chromosomal inversions, initiated over forty years ago.