THE NUCLEAR MICROPROBE - AN INSIGHT OF APPLICATIONS IN CELL BIOLOGY

During the last five years, the evolution of biomedical research based upon nuclear microprobe analysis has followed the development of expe rimental models of cultured or isolated cells. Fundamental studies of cellular mechanisms have been approached by means of in vitro assays a ssociated with single cell analysis. Within those groups which are inv olved in such programs, special emphasis has been placed on cell cultu re and processing techniques which fulfill the methodological requirem ents for intracellular ion beam analysis. Great efforts have been orie ntated towards the improvement of normalization procedures. It is now possible to provide reliable quantitative results expressed in such un its that they can be easily cross-checked using conventional methods. Imaging techniques have been also developed for the identification of the analyzed structures. In this paper, different domains of cell biol ogy which have been addressed during the last years are reviewed. Stud ies dealing with cellular physiology and pharmacology are briefly pres ented as are also those related to the role of trace elements. Topics under development in our group as well as ongoing investigations will be also evoked. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.