Mass Spectrometric Characterization of Peptides in Neurons

231 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1999.The MALDI-based approach is inherently different from conventional methods, in that essentially all peptides present at significant concentrations are detected, not only those which are pre-selected or radioactively tagged. Furthermore, single cells, nerves, and vesicles are screened without the need to isolate each peptide from its complex cellular environment. Sampling, data acquisition, and strategies for the generation of molecular ion images are presented which reveal the utility of MALDI MS for direct and rapid neuropeptide characterization.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD