MALDI imaging mass spectrometry for direct tissue analysis: a new frontier for molecular histology

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) is a powerful tool for investigating the distribution of proteins and small molecules within biological systems through the in situ analysis of tissue sections. MALDI-IMS can determine the distribution of hundreds of unknown compounds in a single measurement and enables the acquisition of cellular expression profiles while maintaining the cellular and molecular integrity. In recent years, a great many advances in the practice of imaging mass spectrometry have taken place, making the technique more sensitive, robust, and ultimately useful. In this review, we focus on the current state of the art of MALDI-IMS, describe basic technological developments for MALDI-IMS of animal and human tissues, and discuss some recent applications in basic research and in clinical settings.

• Publication year

  2008

• Venue

  Histochemistry and Cell Biology

• Publication date

  2008-07-11

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Chemistry

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1007/s00418-008-0469-9PMID 18618129PMCID 2522327
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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