Integrating ion mobility and imaging mass spectrometry for comprehensive analysis of biological tissues: A brief review and perspective

Abstract

Imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) technologies are capable of mapping a wide array of biomolecules in diverse cellular and tissue environments. IMS has emerged as an essential tool for providing spatially targeted molecular information due to its high sensitivity, wide molecular coverage, and chemical specificity. One of the major challenges for mapping the complex cellular milieu is the presence of many isomers and isobars in these samples. This challenge is traditionally addressed using orthogonal liquid chromatography (LC)-based analysis, though, common approaches such as chromatography and electrophoresis are not able to be performed at timescales that are compatible with most imaging applications. Ion mobility offers rapid, gas-phase separations that are readily integrated with IMS workflows in order to provide additional data dimensionality that can improve signal-to-noise, dynamic range, and specificity. Here, we highlight recent examples of ion mobility coupled to IMS and highlight their importance to the field.

Molecular Mapping of Neutral Lipids Using Silicon Nanopost Arrays and TIMS Imaging Mass Spectrometry

“…33−35 Because separations are performed after ionization and are decoupled from spatial sampling, ion mobility can be readily incorporated into existing imaging MS platforms. 36,37 Furthermore, rapid ion mobility separations (ms) occur within time scales that are compatible with imaging experiments where many thousands of pixels (each with its own ion mobility separation) are collected during a single experiment. The most extensively used ion mobility platforms are drift tube ion mobility spectrometry (DTIMS), 38,39 field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS), 40,41 traveling-wave ion mobility spectrometry (TWIMS), 42,43 and trapped ion mobility spectrometry (TIMS).…”

Simultaneous Determination of Lamotrigine, Oxcarbazepine, Lacosamide, and Topiramate in Rat Plasma by Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

“…e methods for the determination of antiepileptic drugs mainly include high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) [11][12][13][14], immunoassay [15,16], and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) [17,18]. Liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/ MS) can obtain strong adduct ion peaks of the compounds under first-order mass spectrometry [19][20][21]. Although methods for measuring individual antiepileptic drug concentration have been widely reported, some patients with severe conditions require multiple drugs simultaneously.…”

Molecular Mapping of Neutral Lipids using Silicon Nanopost Arrays and TIMS Imaging Mass Spectrometry

“…[32][33][34] Because separations are performed after ionization and are decoupled from spatial sampling, ion mobility can be readily incorporated into existing imaging MS platforms. 35,36 Furthermore, rapid ion mobility separations (ms) occur within timescales that are compatible with imaging experiments where many thousands of pixels (each with its own ion mobility separation) are collected during a single experiment. The most extensively used ion mobility platforms are drift tube ion mobility spectrometry (DTIMS) 37,38 , field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) 39,40 , traveling-wave ion mobility spectrometry (TWIMS) 41,42 , and trapped ion mobility spectrometry (TIMS) 43,44 .…”