Abstract

Molecular Imaging by Mass Spectrometry

Alex Wang , South East Asia Application Training Manager, BRUKER Daltonics

Research and development of molecular imaging using modality such as CT (computed tomography), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or PET (positron emission tomography) has attracted attention because of their applicability for clinical research. These devices can visualize the localization of substance such as proteins in vivo, without destroying analytes. Differently from the above, the imaging mass spectrometry (Imaging MS) has been recently developed as one of visualizing methods. This is a destructive analysis. But using specific masses measured from the substances of interest for visualizing, it is expected to be effective and powerful to obtain detailed and selective localization information. Two dimensional mass image is acquired by mass analysis scanning the analyte, which is tissue section in most cases. Among many imaging MS studies using various types of mass spectrometers reported already, most of them are using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MALDI-TOF MS). Since MALDI-TOF MS is a versatile device with wide variety of applications and has wide mass range to be measured, many kinds of target substances are applicable for visualization, e.g. peptide, protein, lipid, drugs and so on. Now, we have been developing a MALDI-TOF MS instrument specialized for imaging MS, and also fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometers (FT-ICR MS) to effectively analyze pharmacokinetics and metabolites. In this presentation, the fundamentals and several applications of the imaging MS will be introduced.