Laser Activated Electron Tunneling Based Mass Spectrometric Imaging of Molecular Architectures of Mouse Brain Revealing Regional Specific Lipids

A comprehensive description of overall brain architecture at the molecular level is essential for understanding behavioral and cognitive processes in health and diseases. Although fluorescent labeling of target proteins has been successfully established to visualize a brain connectome, the molecular...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Analytical chemistry (Washington) 2016-01, Vol.88 (1), p.732-739
Main Authors: Huang, Lulu, Tang, Xuemei, Zhang, Wenyang, Jiang, Ruowei, Zhong, Hongying
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activated
Animals
Architecture
Biochemistry
Brain
Brain - metabolism
Brain research
Electron tunneling
Electrons
Fatty acids
Female
Imaging
Lasers
Lipids
Lipids - analysis
Mass spectrometry
Mass Spectrometry - instrumentation
Mass Spectrometry - methods
Metabolites
Mice
Mice, Inbred Strains
Semiconductors
Spectroscopy
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Summary:A comprehensive description of overall brain architecture at the molecular level is essential for understanding behavioral and cognitive processes in health and diseases. Although fluorescent labeling of target proteins has been successfully established to visualize a brain connectome, the molecular basis for diverse neurophysiological phenomena remains largely unknown. Here we report a brain-wide, molecular-level, and microscale imaging of endogenous metabolites, in particular, lipids of mouse brain by using laser activated electron tunneling (LAET) and mass spectrometry. In this approach, atomic electron emission along with finely tuned laser beam size provides high resolution that can be down to the sub-micrometer level to display spatial distribution of lipids in mouse brain slices. Electron-directed soft ionization has been achieved through exothermal capture of tunneling photoelectrons as well as unpaired electron-initiated chemical bond cleavages. Regionally specific lipids including saturated, mono-unsaturated, and poly-unsaturated fatty acids as well as other lipids, which may be implicated in neurological signaling pathways, have been discovered by using this laser activated electron tunneling based mass spectrometric imaging (LAET-MSI) technique.
ISSN:0003-2700
1520-6882
DOI:10.1021/acs.analchem.5b02871