3P-17 PDF
Potentiality of MALDI-IMS to Compositional Analysis at Single-cell Level
Recently, correlations between metabolic change of lipid and cancer has been reported by dint of imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) coupled with matrix assisted laser desorption /ionization (MALDI) [1]. MALDI-IMS is a two-dimensional MS technique used to visualize the spatial distribution of biomolecules without extraction, purification, separation, or labeling of biological samples [2]. It has become a prevalent technique to analyze solid tumor tissues [1], whereas, hematological malignancies were also needed to analyze in single-cell state as they often don’t form masses. But, spatial resolution of MALDI-IMS limits the lipid inspection on such cases. Methodological and technological developments aimed at improving the spatial resolution of MALDI-IMS have made this technique a potential platform for single-cell analysis [3]. Therefore, we analyzed the lipid composition of single-cell using the multiple myeloma (MM) cells. Multiple myeloma is one of the hematological malignancies characterized by malignant plasma cells disorder. Signals form MM cells and normal plasma cells (NPC) sorted by flow cytometry were monitored at m/z 700-900 at positive ion mode. We successfully obtained phosphatidylcholine (PC) signals in individual cells. We also found the differences in PC composition between MM and NPC. Our current data showed potentiality of MALDI-IMS to compositional analysis of single-cell level.