Mass spectrometry imaging of fingerprint sweat on nanostructured silicon

Abstract

Desorption ionisation on porous silicon mass spectrometry imaging (DIOS-MSI) was used on fingerprints to map the distribution of exogenous and endogenous molecules present in sweat. Our attention was focused on the proof-of-principle to detect illicit drugs and their metabolites to exemplify the technique's potential in the area of forensic and workplace testing.

Metabolite mapping by consecutive nanostructure and silver‐assisted mass spectrometry imaging on tissue sections

“…This is most relevant for the collection of control prints by law enforcement agencies, as these prints could be deposited onto any surface, including DIOS. For example, rapid analysis of small regions on these collected fingermarks could be used for the detection of illicit drugs …”

“…Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) provides a capacity for mapping biological analytes in animal tissues, botanical samples, and even fingermarks . The unique advantages of MSI include the ability to simultaneously annotate the spatial distribution of hundreds to thousands of analytes, without the need for specific and costly reagents such as antibodies .…”

"Bottom‐up" in situ proteomic differentiation of human and non‐human haemoglobins for forensic purposes by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry

“…To date, most applications of MALDI‐MS techniques to forensic science have focused on the analysis of miscellaneous small organic molecules (e.g., illicit drugs) and biomarker discovery for identification of body fluids such as blood, saliva, seminal fluid, vaginal fluid and sweat in fingermarks . Blood in particular is a complex body fluid containing hundreds of proteins and peptides.…”

Porous silicon mass spectrometry as an alternative confirmatory assay for compliance testing of methadone

“…This technique was termed surface‐assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI‐MS) . Porous silicon (pSi) based SALDI has been particularly useful for the detection of various illicit drugs including methadone, cocaine, methamphetamine, etc., as a result of its unique properties such as high surface area, ease of functionalization, and UV absorptivity . pSi SALDI‐MS allows for high throughput analysis using just a few microlitres of body fluids per analysis.…”