This article is available online at http://www.jlr.org within cells and tissues is important, but the experimental approaches for creating high-resolution images of lipids within cells and tissues are quite limited. The most commonly used technique for lipid imaging in tissues is fl uorescence microscopy after the delivery of fl uorescently labeled lipids ( 2, 3 ). A drawback of that approach is that some lipids are not readily available as fl uorescent compounds, and one must worry about how a fl uorescent tag affects the biological properties of the lipid. To overcome these issues, label-free lipid imaging techniques have been developed, such as coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy ( 4 ) and stimulated Raman scattering microscopy ( 5 ), but the lateral resolution and sensitivity of these approaches are limited ( 6 ).More recently, imaging MS has been utilized to visualize lipids ( 7,8 ). New ionization methods, primary ion beams, and newer instrument designs have made imaging MS more powerful. MALDI techniques, TOF secondary ion MS (SIMS), and magnetic sector SIMS represent complementary techniques for lipid imaging ( 9 ). In that order, these techniques have increasing spatial resolution but decreasing molecular specifi city. MALDI techniques are able to identify and quantify lipids with a resolution of a few micrometers; TOF-SIMS retains the ability to identify specifi c lipids and can achieve 0.5-1 µm lateral resolution. By measuring the elemental composition of lipids, a nanoscale SIMS (NanoSIMS) instrument yields images of lipids with up to 50 nm lateral resolution. We describe the use of NanoSIMS imaging to create high-resolution images of lipids in cells and tissues.Abstract Nanoscale secondary ion MS (NanoSIMS) imaging makes it possible to visualize stable isotope-labeled lipids in cells and tissues at 50 nm lateral resolution. Here we report the use of NanoSIMS imaging to visualize lipids in mouse cells and tissues. After administering stable isotope-labeled fatty acids to mice by gavage, NanoSIMS imaging allowed us to visualize neutral lipids in cytosolic lipid droplets in intestinal enterocytes, chylomicrons at the basolateral surface of enterocytes, and lipid droplets in cardiomyocytes and adipocytes. After an injection of stable isotope-enriched triglyceriderich lipoproteins (TRLs), NanoSIMS imaging documented delivery of lipids to cytosolic lipid droplets in parenchymal cells. Using a combination of backscattered electron (BSE) and NanoSIMS imaging, it was possible to correlate the chemical data provided by NanoSIMS with high-resolution BSE images of cell morphology. This combined imaging approach allowed us to visualize stable isotope-enriched TRLs along the luminal face of heart capillaries and the lipids within heart capillary endothelial cells. We also observed examples of TRLs within the subendothelial spaces of heart capillaries. NanoSIMS imaging provided evidence of defective transport of lipids from the plasma LPs to adipocytes and cardiomyocytes in mice defi cient in glycosyl...