An emerging way to study neuropsychiatric or neurodegenerative diseases is by performing proteomic analyses of brain tissues. Here, we describe methods used to isolate and identify the proteins associated with a sample of interest, such as the synapse, as well as to compare the levels of proteins in the sample under different conditions. These techniques, involving subcellular fractionation and modern quantitative proteomics using isotopic labels, can be used to understand the organization of neuronal compartments and the regulation of synaptic function under various conditions.
