APPLICATION Notes

Molecular Imaging of Animal and Human Tissue Samples by LAESI-MS

In this Imaging Application Note, the LAESI® DP-1000 system is used for mass spectrometry imaging of various animal and human tissue samples, including mouse body sections, renal cell carcinoma samples, and basal cell carcinoma skin tissue samples. The Protea LAESI DP-1000 Direct Ionization System has emerged as powerful tool for 2D and 3D molecular imaging of plant and animal tissues. This instrument utilizes Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization, an ambient ionization technique that generates ions from tissue samples that are then introduced and detected by the mass spectrometer.

 

Imaging Brief: Renal Carcinoma Tissue Analysis

Human kidney tissue is shown overlayed with selected ion maps for several biomolecules whose spatial distribution is associated with severely necrotic areas of the tissue.

 

Imaging Brief: Imaging Lipid Distribution in Mouse Brain Tissue

Representative ion maps of phosphotidylcholine molecules in mouse brain sections generated after LAESI-MS analysis.

 

Imaging Brief: Direct Imaging of TLC Plates

LAESI-MS imaging of 3 peptides separated on a TLC plate.

 

Imaging Brief: LAESI-MSI Contact Lens Analysis

Analysis of a worn contact lens with the LAESI DP-1000 System.

 

 

In vivo mass spectrometry with the LAESI DP-1000 system: A new tool for native biomolecular profiling and biomarker discovery

In vivo mass spectrometry of living cells has until recently been an unattainable goal due to several limitations from other techniques, including the requirement of a matrix, vacuum, and the ability to only analyze the surface of a sample. The ambient ionization technique, laser ablation electrospray ionization (LAESI), has facilitated the identification and characterization of biomolecules in living cells at ambient pressures, without the need for the addition of a matrix. This analysis allows researchers to obtain a direct representation of a living population by analyzing the biodynamics of molecules as they are in living samples at the point of analysis, without any sample handling.

 

Imaging Lipids in Mouse Brain Tissue Using the Protea LAESI DP-1000 System

Mass spectrometry Imaging (MSI) is a rapidly developing technique for mapping the spatial distribution of biomolecules, metabolites and pharmaceuticals over a sample area. This technique has shown great potential for new diagnostic biomarker discovery, and benefits from the molecular specificity and sensitivity of mass spectrometry. For example, some tissue sections indistinguishable by histopathological methods can be differentiated by the spatial distribution of certain biomarker molecules. Lipids are one of class of biomolecules that lipidomics researchers are very interested in obtaining molecular ion maps by MSI. Lipids are structurally diverse compounds, which are most commonly known for being a major component of cell and organelle membranes. They are also involved in a wide range of cellular processes such as energy storage, membrane anchoring, cell signalling, subcellular partitioning and protein trafficking.

LAESI-MS vs MALDI-MS Imaging: Lipid Imaging from Mouse Brains

Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (LAESI-MS) is a powerful technique for the direct imaging analysis of frozen tissue sections at atmospheric pressure. The Protea LAESI DP-1000 is a direct ionization system that uses LAESI technology combined with an advanced translational stage for molecular mapping. The LAESI DP- 1000 uses a mid-infrared (MIR) laser (2.94 μm) that is readily absorbed by water containing species to generate gas phase, neutral molecules. Ionization is achieved by capturing the ablated plume of sample with an electrospray ionization (ESI) plume located above the sample. The LAESI DP-1000 can directly analyze watercontaining samples, e.g. frozen tissue sections, without additional sample preparation beyond cryosectioning. This allows for faster sample analysis in addition to simplified methods and protocols.

LAESI DP-1000 – Dynamic Range – Proof Statement

Understanding the dynamic range of your instrument is vital to accurately investigate samples of interest, especially for quantitative workflows. Here we demonstrate the linear analytical performance of the LAESI DP-1000 Direct Ionization System over a wide concentration range.

 

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