# Lipid imaging in Traumatic Brain Injury by high resolution GCIB-secondary ion mass spectrometry

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2021 · $548,998

## Abstract

Since the invention of microscopy and the initial observation of cells more than three hundred years ago, cell
biology has been triumphant in detailed structural and functional characterization of intracellular organelles and
macromolecular complexes. The realization that specialized bi-functional molecules, lipids, can form the
aqueous interfaces of membrane structures has attracted attention to this group of intracellular compounds.
Extensive biochemical studies discovered a huge diversification of lipids that could not be accommodated
within a simple concept of their role as membrane building blocks. Indeed, numerous signaling functions of
different lipid molecules, including membrane lipids, have been discovered. In spite of the very successful
analytical work in biochemical characterization of the countless lipids, the exact intracellular topography of
individual molecular species of lipids in the context of their signaling functions has not been established. The
major reason for this was the lack of adequate technologies for high resolution imaging of small lipid
molecules. The most recent developments of Gas Cluster Ion Beams Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry
(GCIB-SIMS) allows, for the first time, to fill this gap of fundamental knowledge in cell biology and develop a
new type of microscopy – biochemical microscopy of lipids – that will create intracellular maps of individual
lipids and their essential for life asymmetric distribution in biomembranes. Achievement of the goals of this
innovative and paradigm shifting work will be based on highly interdisciplinary approaches and the leadership
position of the three teams in their respective fields of analytical/physical chemistry of SIMS (at Pennsylvania
State University, N. Winograd), lipid biochemistry/biology (at the University of Pittsburgh, V.E. Kagan), and
traumatic brain injury (TBI) (at University of Pittsburgh, H. Bayır. Aim 1 will employ high-resolution GCIB-SIMS
to explore molecular speciation and construct cell-specific maps of CL and PE in neuronal, glial, and microglial
cells in different anatomical regions of normal mouse brain. Aim 2 will identify TBI induced molecular
alterations in cardiolipin (CL) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) in neuronal, glial, and microglial cells using
GCIB-SIMS in mouse controlled cortical impact (CCI) model. We will further identify TBI induced changes in
subcellular distribution of individual CL and PE species related to the execution of apoptotic or ferroptotic
programs in the respective cells. We will be particularly interested in pro-apoptotic changes in mitochondrial CL
and pro-ferroptotic changes in PE. We will also examine brain tissue removed from TBI patients with refractory
intracranial hypertension and brain-bank control tissue. Aim 3 will determine the utility of GCIB-SIMS imaging
in assessing the effectiveness of select anti-apoptotic and anti-ferroptotic small molecule regulators in
preventing cell-specific changes in CL and PE molec...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10199056
- **Project number:** 5R01NS076511-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Hülya Bayir
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $548,998
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10199056

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10199056, Lipid imaging in Traumatic Brain Injury by high resolution GCIB-secondary ion mass spectrometry (5R01NS076511-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10199056. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*