Iron uptake and toxicity in brain cells: implications for neurodegenerative diseases: data

An investigation into iron uptake and toxicity in brain cells, uses the techniques of primary neural cell culture and biochemical assays that examine oxidative stress and iron metabolism. Data obtained from the investigation showed how different types of brain cells take up iron and how they respond to this iron, whether it is toxic and would kill them as a result, or whether they are able to withstand the high amounts of iron. Data sets examine variants such as the amount of iron taken up and the amount of cell death that occurs. markers of oxidative stress are also examined, which is one of the processes by which cell death can occur. Measurements were obtained using various biochemical assays which are specific to each of the indices that are being measured. Specific assays include those that can tell how much iron there is; other assays can tell how many cells are alive or dead after treatment. They give various results as numbers or percentages, such as how much iron is present. The dataset then becomes a series of numbers in an excel spreadsheet. Before the data is transferred to a spreadsheet, it comes from a program called Ascent (software) that belongs to a plate reader, similar to a spectrophotometer. This involves the shining of light through a sample which tells you of the absorbance that it’s detected. The program can correlate with known amounts of iron and reports what is in the sample. It generates a series of numbers that are taken to an excel spreadsheet where calculations are made and to turned into something useful. Data is turned into graphs using SigmaPlot. Data was analysed with Ascent, Excel and SigmaPlot. Glenda Bishop and Stephen Robinson of Monash University collaborated to collect the data. The role of primary chief investigator was interchangeable according to the experiment.