2009 年 20 巻 4 号 p. 257-262
This short article is based on a lecture, which celebrates the 20th Annual Meeting of Biomedical Research on Trace Element (BRTE) (Chairperson : Prof. Minoru Ikeda, Nihon University, School of Medicine) at Tokyo on July 2-3, 2009. After a short history on trace elements was described, the essential role of trace element research was confirmed from the view point of the abundance of number and the meaning of trace amount, which lead to the syntheses and inductions of specific metalloenzymes and metalloproteins. Particularly, recent progress on Zn was described in relation to the activation of immune system and development of nerve cell death such as Alzheimer's disease. Then the importance of the social role of the BRTE society to share the fruitful accomplishment from the members of the society with people was stressed as the possible role in the 21st century. Finally, the important research fields in the trace element in 21st century were pointed out from a personal viewpoint. First of all, the new term “Metallomics”, which was proposed by Prof. Hiroki Haraguchi, Nagoya University in 2004 and later has been developed to create a new journal “Metallomics” from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in 2009, was introduced. Metallomics covers all aspect of trace element research in modern science including not only the positive and negative roles of trace elements in human and animal but also the molecular biology. The development of metallopharmaceutics is also the front research field, where the use of Pt, Zn, V and radio-nuclides is introduced. The most essential field of metallomics is based on the accurate determination and biospeciation of trace elements, which will enable the bio-imaging of multiple elements in not only whole body but also the organs in human and animals and then a detailed insight to our life.
