MALDI-guided SIMS: multiscale imaging of metabolites in bacterial biofilms.

ABSTRACT: Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a versatile tool for visualizing molecular distributions in complex biological specimens, but locating microscopic chemical features of interest can be challenging in samples that lack a well-defined anatomy. To address this issue, we developed a correlated imaging approach that begins with performing matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) MSI to obtain low-resolution molecular maps of a sample. The resulting maps are then used to direct subsequent microscopic secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) imaging and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) experiments to examine selected chemical regions of interest. By employing MALDI undersampling, the sample surface is left mostly unperturbed and available for the SIMS analysis, while also generating an

SUBMITTER: Lanni EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4165220 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature