MALDI MSI技术在缺血性卒中研究中的应用

基质辅助激光解吸/电离质谱成像(MALDI MSI)技术是新兴的分子成像技术,具有免标记、高空间分辨、高检测特异性等优势,在捕捉、分辨和鉴定各种疾病相关代谢物的组织分布与变化方面具有明显的优势,为揭示多种目标分子在生理/病理条件下的组织空间分布特征及其时空动态变化提供了便利和直观的研究手段。综述了近年来MALDI MSI技术在缺血性卒中研究中的应用,重点阐述了运用MALDI MSI技术研究缺血性卒中发生发展过程中,多种结构与功能各异的内源性小分子在脑中的时空动态变化规律,以期为揭示缺血性卒中发病的分子机制提供科学依据。     

成像质谱在微生物代谢产物研究中的应用

微生物代谢产物的结构和功能多样,对相邻微生物和环境会产生重要影响。传统的天然产物分离方法不能系统全面地监测单一或混合微生物样品中代谢物的合成和释放模式。成像质谱能够同时可视化观察从单一微生物菌落到复杂微生物群落的多个代谢产物的时空分布,可以用于发现重要的生物活性分子,观察微生物菌落的代谢交流,以及跟踪微生物之间相互竞争过程中代谢物的修饰等方面的研究。本文综述了成像质谱在微生物代谢产物研究中的最新进展,展望了该技术的应用前景。     

基于代谢组学技术的植物抗病相关代谢物研究进展

植物受到病原真菌侵染时往往通过调节体内代谢物的产生来增强自身抗性,代谢组学技术是研究植物抗病相关代谢物的重要工具。指认植物抗病相关代谢物不仅利于深入探讨其抗病机制,还可与其他组学技术结合,辅助抗性品种鉴定和抗病品种培育。该研究对近年来国内外有关基于代谢组学技术指认植物抗病相关代谢物的流程、已发现的抗病相关代谢物及其作用机制的研究进展进行综述,并探讨了目前应用代谢组学技术研究植物抗病相关代谢物过程中面临的挑战。     

气相色谱-质谱联用技术及其在代谢组学中的应用

代谢组学是以高通量、高灵敏度、高分辨率的现代仪器分析方法为手段,对细胞、体液、组织中所有代谢物进行无偏向的定性与定量分析的一门学科。气相色谱-质谱联用技术具有较高的检测灵敏度和鉴定准确度,通过标准谱图库的比对可对代谢物进行快速的鉴定,因此被广泛应用于生物样品的代谢产物的检测中。文中对近年来气相色谱-质谱联用技术的发展以及在代谢组学研究中取得的成果进行了综述。首先介绍了气相色谱-质谱联用技术的分类和常用的样品衍生化方法;继而从样品预处理、定性与定量分析、数据分析三方面介绍了气相色谱-质谱联用技术分析代谢物的方法,并系统地对该技术在微生物、植物、疾病诊断领域的应用实例进行了评述;最后提出了当前气相色谱-质谱联用技术在代谢组学研究中存在的问题并对后续的研究进行了展望。     

基于质谱技术的细胞代谢组学研究进展

细胞代谢组学作为一个新兴领域,能解决基本的生物学问题,还能观察细胞内的代谢情况。细胞代谢物浓度可以近似地反映一个组织、器官或细胞的表型。随着代谢组学的发展,以质谱分析为基础的代谢组学技术研究细胞的代谢物,其灵敏度高、分辨率好,能进行多组分的检测,并能获取分子的结构信息,这有利于细胞生物学的研究。该文结合目前代谢组学的技术,对细胞代谢物研究的意义及基于质谱技术的细胞代谢组学的应用进行了综述。     

植物代谢组学中几种重要的次生代谢物液质分析技术研究进展

代谢组学（metabolomics）主要是研究生物体、组织、细胞的代谢物组分及检测其动态变化过程,是继基因组和蛋白组学后新兴的一门组学技术。代谢物是细胞调节过程中的最终产物,其水平被视为生物系统对遗传或环境变化的最终反映。通过合适的分析平台,准确定性、定量在复杂的生物中具有化学多样性的次生代谢物是代谢组学的一项重要工作。液相色谱-串联质谱技术（liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry,LC-MS/MS）是代谢物质检测平台最常用的方法,也为植物次生代谢物的广泛应用研究提供了基础。本文主要从植物激素类、叶酸类、黄酮类等次生代谢物方面进行阐述,结合液质联用技术,简要论述不同次生代谢物检测技术的研究进展。     

植物应答非生物胁迫的代谢组学研究进展

代谢组学技术是研究植物代谢的理想平台, 通过现代检测分析技术对胁迫环境下植物中代谢产物进行定性和定量分析, 可以监测其随时间变化的规律。而各种组学平台包括基因组学、转录组学及代谢组学的整合, 更是一个强有力的工具箱, 将所获得的不同组学的信息联系起来, 有利于从整体研究生物系统对基因或环境变化的响应, 如可判断代谢物的变化是从哪一个层面开始发生的, 帮助人们揭开复杂的植物胁迫应答机制。该文对近期代谢组学技术及其与蛋白质组学、基因组学技术相结合探索植物应答非生物胁迫的研究进行了综述。代谢组学的应用, 拓展了对植物耐受非生物胁迫分子机制的认识, 开展更多这方面的研究, 再通过植物代谢组学、转录组学、蛋白质组学和基因组学整合, 有助于从整体水平上把握植物胁迫应答机制。     

基于质谱信号的代谢物鉴定:生物信息学的机遇与挑战

液相色谱-质谱联用是目前代谢组学研究中广泛采用的分析技术。随着海量质谱数据的产生,解析质谱信号所对应的代谢物分子显得越来越重要。由于代谢物中分子成分复杂多变,其质谱信号具有特定的数据分布特点。因此,开发适应这一特点的分析软件,扩展通用标准谱图库和代谢物数据库,增加代谢物的鉴定率是当前代谢组学研究的关键任务。本文主要介绍近年来基于质谱信号的代谢物鉴定研究领域的基本思路和最新进展。     

生态代谢组学研究进展

代谢组学指某一生物系统中产生的或已存在的代谢物组的研究,以质谱和核磁共振技术为分析平台,以信息建模与系统整合为目标。随着代谢组学中的研究方法与技术成为生态学研究的有力工具,生态代谢组学概念应运而生,即研究某一个生物体对环境变化的代谢物组水平的响应。理清代谢组学与生态代谢组学学科发展的脉络,综述代谢组学研究中的常用技术及其优势与局限性,论述代谢组学技术在生态学研究中的应用现状,展望代谢组学技术与其他系统生物学组学技术的结合在生态学中的应用前景,提出生态代谢组学研究者未来要完成的任务和面对的挑战。     

代谢组学技术在水产动物疾病研究中的应用

代谢组学是定量描述生物内源性代谢物质的整体及其对内因和外因变化应答规律的的一门新学科。近年来,代谢组学技术在水产动物疾病中的研究备受关注,特别是为感染性疾病发生机制及防控研究提供了一种新的手段。本文介绍了代谢组学技术及其在水产动物研究中的应用,包括代谢组学技术在水产动物感染性疾病、细菌耐药及环境应激等方面应用进行综述,分析了代谢组学在水产动物疾病研究中面临的问题与挑战,并对未来水产动物代谢组学研究趋势进行了展望,以期为代谢组学技术在水产动物疾病发病机制和药物研发方面更深入的运用提供参考。     

In situ metabolomic mass spectrometry imaging: recent advances and difficulties

MS imaging (MSI) is a remarkable new technology that enables us to determine the distribution of biological molecules present in tissue sections by direct ionization and detection. This technique is now widely used for in situ imaging of endogenous or exogenous molecules such as proteins, lipids, drugs and their metabolites, and it is a potential tool for pathological analysis and the investigation of disease mechanisms. MSI is also thought to be a technique that could be used for biomarker discovery with spatial information. The application of MSI to the study of endogenous metabolites has received considerable attention because metabolites are the result of the interactions of a system's genome with its environment and a total set of these metabolites more closely represents the phenotype of an organism under a given set of conditions. Recent studies have suggested the importance of in situ metabolite imaging in biological discovery and biomedical applications, but several issues regarding the technical application limits of MSI still remained to be resolved. In this review, we describe the capabilities of the latest MSI techniques for the imaging of endogenous metabolites in biological samples, and also discuss the technical problems and new challenges that need to be addressed for effective and widespread application of MSI in both preclinical and clinical settings.     

多光谱成像技术在植物学研究中的应用

多光谱成像(MSI)技术是一种新兴的成像检测技术, 通过将光谱与成像合二为一, 可实现植物结构、生理、生化表型的定性定量分析及其特征分布的评估。近年来, 与数学建模分析结合的MSI技术具有强大的信息捕获能力, 在植物学研究中展现出强劲的应用潜力。该文介绍了MSI技术的成像原理, 总结了近年来MSI技术在植物损伤鉴定、病害研究、代谢物质生化特征及生理进程鉴定方面的应用, 展望了该技术在植物研究领域的前沿性发展, 以期使MSI技术在植物研究中得到更好的应用。     

Mass spectrometry imaging for drug distribution studies

Since its introduction mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has proven to be a powerful tool for the localization of molecules in biological tissues. In drug discovery and development, understanding the distribution of both drug and its metabolites is of critical importance. Traditional methods suffer from a lack of spatial information (tissue extraction followed by LCMS) or lack of specificity resulting in the inability to resolve parent drug from its metabolites (whole body autoradiography). MSI is a sensitive and label-free approach for imaging drugs and metabolites in tissues. In this article we review the different MSI technologies that have been applied to the imaging of pharmaceuticals. Recent technical advances, applications and current analytical limitations are discussed.     

Molecular histology of arteries: mass spectrometry imaging as a novel ex vivo tool to investigate atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is usually the underlying cause of a fatal event such as myocardial infarction or ictus. The atherome plaque develops silently and asymptomatically within the arterial intima layer. In this context, the possibility to analyze the molecular content of arterial tissue while preserving each molecule’s specific localization is of great interest as it may reveal further insights into the physiopathological changes taking place. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) enables the spatially resolved molecular analysis of proteins, peptides, metabolites, lipids and drugs directly in tissue, with a resolution sufficient to reveal molecular features specific to distinct arterial structures. MSI represents a novel ex vivo imaging tool still underexplored in cardiovascular diseases. This review focuses on the MSI technique applied to cardiovascular disease and covers the main contributions to date, ongoing efforts, the main challenges and current limitations of MSI.     

MALDI-Mass Spectrometric Imaging for the Investigation of Metabolites in Medicago truncatula Root Nodules

Most techniques used to study small molecules, such as pharmaceutical drugs or endogenous metabolites, employ tissue extracts which require the homogenization of the tissue of interest that could potentially cause changes in the metabolic pathways being studied¹. Mass spectrometric imaging (MSI) is a powerful analytical tool that can provide spatial information of analytes within intact slices of biological tissue samples^1-5. This technique has been used extensively to study various types of compounds including proteins, peptides, lipids, and small molecules such as endogenous metabolites. With matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-MSI, spatial distributions of multiple metabolites can be simultaneously detected. Herein, a method developed specifically for conducting untargeted metabolomics MSI experiments on legume roots and root nodules is presented which could reveal insights into the biological processes taking place. The method presented here shows a typical MSI workflow, from sample preparation to image acquisition, and focuses on the matrix application step, demonstrating several matrix application techniques that are useful for detecting small molecules. Once the MS images are generated, the analysis and identification of metabolites of interest is discussed and demonstrated. The standard workflow presented here can be easily modified for different tissue types, molecular species, and instrumentation.     

Visualizing phosphatidylcholine via mass spectrometry imaging: relevance to human health

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) techniques are nowadays widely used to obtain spatially resolved metabolite information from biological tissues. Since (phospho)lipids occur in all animal tissues and are very sensitively detectable, they are often in the focus of such studies. This particularly applies for phosphatidylcholines (PC) which are very sensitively detectable as positive ions due to the permanent positive charge of their choline headgroup.

Areas covered: After a short introduction of lipid species occurring in biological systems and approaches normally used to obtain spatially resolved mass spectra (with the focus on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization coupled to time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) MSI) a survey will be given which diseases have so far been characterized by changes of the PC composition.

Expert commentary: Since PC species are very sensitively detectable by MS, sensitivity is not a major issue. However, spatial resolution is still limited and cellular dimensions can be hardly resolved by MALDI-TOF MSI, which is a critical point of the available approaches. Due to lacks of reproducibility and standardization further development is required.     

Nuclear magnetic resonance micro-imaging in the investigation of plant cell metabolism

Micro-imaging based on nuclear magnetic resonance offers the possibility to map metabolites in plant tissues non-invasively. Major metabolites such as sucrose and amino acids can be observed with high spatial resolution. Stable isotope tracers, such as (13)C-labelled metabolites can be used to measure the in vivo conversion rates in a metabolic network. This review summarizes the different nuclear magnetic resonance micro-imaging techniques that are available to obtain spatially resolved information on metabolites in plants. A short general introduction into NMR imaging techniques is provided. Particular emphasis is given to the difficulties encountered when NMR micro-imaging is applied to plant systems.     

Integrated MALDI-MS imaging and LC–MS techniques for visualizing spatiotemporal metabolomic dynamics in a rat stroke model

Spatiotemporal information about biomolecules is indispensable for precise pathological analysis, but it remains largely unclear. Here we show a novel analytical platform combing mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) with its complementary technique, liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS), to elucidate more comprehensive metabolic behaviors, with spatiotemporal information, in tissues. Analysis of a rat transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) brain tissue after ischemia–reperfusion was performed to characterize the detailed metabolomic response to pathological alterations. To compare the spatially resolved metabolic state between ischemic and contralateral hemispheres of the MCAO brain, coronally sliced tissues were subjected to MSI. We also measured the metabolites extracted from three different cerebral regions, including whole cortex (CTX), hippocampus (HI) and corpus striatum (CPu), by LC–MS. In the ischemic hemisphere, significant metabolic changes at the CTX and CPu were observed after reperfusion, while not at the HI. A region-specific metabolic behavior was observed in amino acid and nucleotide metabolism, as well as in the TCA cycle. Correlation between MSI and LC–MS data was relatively high in the CTX and CPu. Combination of both MS platforms visualized the diverse spatiotemporal metabolic dynamics during pathological progress. Thus, our proposed strategy will contribute to the understanding of the complex pathogenesis of ischemia–reperfusion.     

Mass spectrometry imaging: An emerging technology for the analysis of metabolites in insects

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) can visualize the composition, abundance, and spatial distribution of molecules in tissues or cells, which has been widely used in the research of life science. Insects, especially the agricultural pests, have received a great deal of interests from the scientists in biodiversity and food security. This review introduces the major characteristics of MSI, summarizes its application to the investigation of insect endogenous metabolites, exogenous metabolites, and the spatiotemporal changes of metabolites between insects and plants, and discusses its shortfalls and perspectives. The significance of these concerns is beneficial for future insect research such as physiology and metabolism.     

Nanostructure Initiator Mass Spectrometry for tissue imaging in metabolomics: future prospects and perspectives

Mass spectrometry-based metabolomics provides a new approach to interrogate mechanistic biochemistry related to natural processes such as health and disease. Physiological and pathological conditions, however, are characterized not only by the identities and concentrations of metabolites present, but also by the location of metabolites within a tissue. Unfortunately, most relevant MS platforms in metabolomics can only measure samples in solution, therefore metabolites are typically extracted by tissue homogenization. Recent developments of imaging-MS technologies, however, have allowed particular metabolites to be spatially localized within biological tissues. In this context, Nanostructure-Initiator Mass Spectrometry (NIMS), a matrix-free technique for surface-based analysis, has proven an alternative approach for tissue imaging of metabolites. Here we review the basic principles of NIMS for tissue imaging and show applications that can complement LC/MS and GC/MS-based metabolomic studies investigating the mechanisms of fundamental biological processes. In addition, the new surface modifications and nanostructured materials herein presented demonstrate the versatility of NIMS surface to expand the range of detectable metabolites.