Versatile Potential Applications for the Molecular Analysis of Tissues Imaging mass spectrometry allows the molecular composition of tissue samples to be analyzed in their morphological context. This method does not require markers and enables hundreds of analytes to be examined simultaneously within a single measurement. The great potential of imaging MS opens up an expanding range of applications in tissue analysis. Mass spectrometry methods are a widespread analytical principle in Life Sciences. Imaging MS (Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization imaging - MALDI imaging) extends the applicability of these methods to the molecular analysis of tissues [1]. This method permits the correlation of classic histology and molecular imaging at microscopic level, resulting in a new quality of data in biomedical research and molecular diagnostics. The method allows active substances and their metabolites, as well as a broad range of analytes - proteins and peptides, lipids, components of the metabolism - to be localized in sections of tissue by means of their mass signals. Starting materials are conventional tissue sections which are raster-scanned by the mass spectrometer (for spatial resolution), generating a mass spectrum for each measuring spot. The mass signals detected are then visualized by special software in the form of color signals on the basis of their intensity (Fig. 1). These color signals allow the detection of patterns which represent the distribution in the tissue of proteins and peptides, for example.
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