Laser ablation electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

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Laser ablation electrospray ionization (LAESI) is a combination of microsampling by a mid-IR laser and efficient ionization of the sampled material by critically charged droplets. The LAESI technique, developed for in situ tissue and cell analysis, samples the entire volume of the cells for metabolites and lipid components with tissue imaging and quantitation capabilities. Through the analysis and molecular imaging of various tissue samples, we have demonstrated that with LAESI it is possible to simultaneously detect different classes of compounds, for example, acidic and basic compounds, lipids and fatty acids. Relative quantitation of metabolites can be performed by directly comparing the LAESI signal from different samples, whereas absolute quantitation can be carried out using labeled internal standards.

LAESI

120/ P. Sripadi, B. Shrestha, R. L. Easley, L. Carpio, K. Kehn-Hall, S. Chevalier, R. Mahieux, F. Kashanchi and A. Vertes, “Direct Detection of Diverse Metabolic Changes in Virally Transformed and Tax-expressing Cells by Mass Spectrometry,” PLoS ONE, 2010, 5, e12590.

117/ C. H. Stephens, B. Shrestha, H. R. Morris, M. E. Bier, P. M. Whitmore and A. Vertes, “Minimally invasive monitoring of cellulose degradation by desorption electrospray ionization and laser ablation electrospray ionization mass spectrometry,” Analyst, 2010, 135, 2434-2444. Supplementary material.

115/ B. Shrestha, P. Nemes and A. Vertes, “Ablation and analysis of small cell populations and single cells by consecutive laser pulses,” Appl. Phys. A, 2010, 101, 121-126.

113/ B. Shrestha, P. Nemes, J. Nazarian, Y. Hathout, E. P. Hoffman and A. Vertes, “Direct analysis of lipids and small metabolites in mouse brain tissue by AP IR-MALDI and reactive LAESI mass spectrometry,” Analyst, 2010, 135, 751-758. Supplementary material.

112/P. Nemes, A. S. Woods and A. Vertes, “Simultaneous Imaging of Small Metabolites and Lipids in Rat Brain Tissues at Atmospheric Pressure by Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry,” Anal. Chem., 2010, 82, 982-988. Supporting information.