Applications of Fourier Transform Infrared Imaging Microscopy in Neurotoxicity

The spatial distribution of components within complex materials strongly influences both their physical and chemical properties. Thus, analytical methods that provide information on both the localization and molecular characteristics of composite materials are invaluable in disciplines as diverse as the design and fabrication of advanced materials or the chemical and biochemical elucidation of cellular systems. Spectroscopic imaging is a particularly attractive method since it can provide simultaneous information on both the spatial and chemical properties of an intact system while preserving sample integrity. In applications to biological specimens, for example, spectral imaging is also suitable for noninvasive biophysical analyses and biomedical diagnoses performed in vivo. Therefore, spectral imaging allows both the researcher and clinician to rapidly visualize sample "chemistry" with minimum sample preparation and disruption. Spectral imaging extends the power of spectroscopic analysis by generating spatial information while retaining the analytical capability provided by traditional, nonimaging spectroscopies. For example, nuclear magnetic resonance techniques' are applied for whole-body diagnostic imaging, whereas for investigation of the microscale, fluorescence m i ~ r o s c o p y ~ . ~ is an effective chemical state imaging. Chemical visualization methods integrating micros-