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oai:figshare.com:article/33805567 2026-09-15T16:16:13Z portal_1197 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Data for Analysis of neuronal iron deposits in Parkinson's disease brain tissue by synchrotron x-ray spectromicroscopy Jake Brooks (18181343) James Everett (1311402) Frederik Lermyte (1496347) Vindy Tjendana Tjhin (24942988) P. J. Sadler (24740740) Neil D. Telling (1311414) Joanna F. Collingwood (1311405) Parkinson's disease Brain -- Diseases Grenz rays Oxidative stress Nervous system -- Degeneration -- Molecular aspects Migrated from ePrints Background Neuromelanin-pigmented neurons, which are highly susceptible to neurodegeneration in the Parkinson’s disease substantia nigra, harbour elevated iron levels in the diseased state. Whilst it is widely believed that neuronal iron is stored in an inert, ferric form, perturbations to normal metal homeostasis could potentially generate more reactive forms of iron capable of stimulating toxicity and cell death. However, non-disruptive analysis of brain metals is inherently challenging, since use of stains or chemical fixatives, for example, can significantly influence metal ion distributions and/or concentrations in tissues. Aims The aim of this study was to apply synchrotron soft x-ray spectromicroscopy to the characterisation of iron deposits and their local environment within neuromelanin-containing neurons of Parkinson’s disease substantia nigra. Methods Soft x-ray spectromicroscopy was applied in the form of Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM) to analyse resin-embedded tissue, without requirement for chemically disruptive processing or staining. Measurements were performed at the oxygen and iron K-edges in order to characterise both organic and inorganic components of anatomical tissue using a single label-free method. Results STXM revealed evidence for mixed oxidation states of neuronal iron deposits associated with neuromelanin clusters in Parkinson’s disease substantia nigra. The excellent sensitivity, specificity and spatial resolution of these STXM measurements showed that the iron oxidation state varies across sub-micron length scales. Conclusions The label-free STXM approach is highly suited to characterising the distributions of both inorganic and organic components of anatomical tissue, and provides a proof-of-concept for investigating trace metal speciation within Parkinson’s disease neuromelanin-containing neurons.<br><br>Data record consists of two zip archives corresponding to the two figures in the related article. Archives are organised into subfolders according to the specific part of the figure in question. Raw data files are in raw text and data formats. Data processing is described at length in the related article. STXM data processing was performed using the aXis 2000 software package (http://unicorn.mcmaster.ca/aXis2000.html). Pseudo-coloured composite images were created by converting greyscale images to false colour, before recombining the images as an overlay using ImageJ. 2020-07-29T00:00:00Z Dataset Dataset 10.82444/warw.33805567.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Data_for_Analysis_of_neuronal_iron_deposits_in_Parkinson_s_disease_brain_tissue_by_synchrotron_x-ray_spectromicroscopy/33805567 CC BY 4.0