Synchrotron-radiation based nanoscopic X-ray fluorescence imaging of iron in abnormal nuclear RNA aggregates in a cellular model of spinocer

Iron is the most abundant trace metal in the human brain that is crucial for cellular survival and on which rely oxygen transport and mitochondrial respiration. Iron dyshomeostasis with pathological accumulation and induction of pathological protein aggregation is a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson and Alzheimer disease. This proposal aims to evaluate iron accumulation in SCA37 nuclear RNA aggregates that would allow to demonstrate iron dyshomeostasis also in this type of neurodegenerative disease.