Ion mobility mass spectrometry in the omics era: Challenges and opportunities for metabolomics and lipidomics

Abstract

Researchers worldwide are taking advantage of novel, commercially available, technologies, such as ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM‐MS), for metabolomics and lipidomics applications in a variety of fields including life, biomedical, and food sciences. IM‐MS provides three main technical advantages over traditional LC‐MS workflows. Firstly, in addition to mass, IM‐MS allows collision cross‐section values to be measured for metabolites and lipids, a physicochemical identifier related to the chemical shape of an analyte that increases the confidence of identification. Second, IM‐MS increases peak capacity and the signal‐to‐noise, improving fingerprinting as well as quantification, and better defining the spatial localization of metabolites and lipids in biological and food samples. Third, IM‐MS can be coupled with various fragmentation modes, adding new tools to improve structural characterization and molecular annotation. Here, we review the state‐of‐the‐art in IM‐MS technologies and approaches utilized to support metabolomics and lipidomics applications and we assess the challenges and opportunities in this growing field.

Lipid analysis by ion mobility spectrometry combined with mass spectrometry: A brief update with a perspective on applications in the clinical laboratory

“…CCS values may also be potentially utilized for standardized database searching as they are not instrument dependent if the analyses are performed under the same experimental conditions [10] , [27] , [28] , [29] . Several recent reviews have been published on the application of IMS for lipid analysis [25] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] . The following section highlights several recent utilizations of IMS for lipid applications.…”

Application of Mass Spectrometry in Pancreatic Cancer Translational Research

“…MSI, a fast-growing molecular imaging technology, visually analyzes the structure, spatial and temporal distribution of molecules in cells or tissues using MS and the associated imaging software ( 23 ). In decades, MSI technologies based on MALDI, atmospheric pressure-MALDI, desorption electrospray ionization (DESI), and secondary ion MS (SIMS) ion sources have developed rapidly and had potential value in tumor diagnosis, marker screening, and treatment ( 24 ).…”

Defining NASH from a Multi-Omics Systems Biology Perspective

“…In contrast, HILIC mainly separates lipids by polar head groups. A recent trend is to integrate ion mobility spectrometry into conventional MS-based workflows [77], to separate ions in the gas phase by their size and shape, which can be advantageous in resolving isomers. We have recently demonstrated the benefits of trapped ion mobility spectrometry and a highly sensitive data acquisition method (PASEF) in generating comprehensive lipidomics profiles from a small sample amount equivalent to 10 µg of liver tissue per injection [64].…”