Determination of metal species in biological samples: From speciation analysis to metallomics

摘要

The paper makes an attempt to give a definition to metallomics, a branch of science, which actively evolves in the recent years abroad, taking into account such common and well accepted terms as proteomics, genomics, and metabolomics. The author critically revises the analytical methodology that makes possible the detection and identification of individual metal species, the determination of their concentrations and, therefore, distribution in specific biological samples, and also investigates important biological processes involving metals and predicts their biological functions.