Premium
Laser ablation ICP‐MS: Application in biomedical research
Author(s) -
Sussulini Alessandra,
Becker Julia Susanne,
Becker Johanna Sabine
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
mass spectrometry reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.035
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1098-2787
pISSN - 0277-7037
DOI - 10.1002/mas.21481
Subject(s) - chemistry , mass spectrometry , mass spectrometry imaging , inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , laser ablation , context (archaeology) , bioanalysis , elemental analysis , analytical chemistry (journal) , nanotechnology , environmental chemistry , chromatography , laser , materials science , paleontology , physics , organic chemistry , optics , biology
In the last decade, the development of diverse bioanalytical methodologies based on mass spectrometry imaging has increased, as has their application in biomedical questions. The distribution analysis of elements (metals, semimetals, and non‐metals) in biological samples is a point of interest in life sciences, especially within the context of metallomics, which is the scientific field that encompasses the global analysis of the entirety of elemental species inside a cell or tissue. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) has been efficiently employed to generate qualitative and quantitative maps of elemental distribution in thin tissue sections of a variety of biological samples, for example, brain, cartilage, spinal cord, etc. The combination of elemental with molecular mass spectrometry allows obtaining information about the elements bound to proteins, when they are previously separated by gel electrophoresis (metalloproteomics), and also adding a new dimension to molecular mass spectrometry imaging by the correlation of molecular and elemental distribution maps in definite regions in a biological tissue. In the present review, recent biomedical applications in LA‐ICP‐MS imaging as a stand‐alone technique and in combination with molecular mass spectrometry imaging techniques are discussed. Applications of LA‐ICP‐MS in the study of neurodegenerative diseases, distribution of contrast agents and metallodrugs, and metalloproteomics will be focused in this review. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Mass Spec Rev 36:47–57, 2017.