In which research fields is mass spectrometry imaging primarily used?

Mass spectrometry imaging links ‘molecular species’ to ‘spatial location’; it is particularly well-suited to any question concerning ‘how a particular molecule is distributed within a sample’.

In the fields of life sciences and medicine, it is used in metabolomics, lipidomics (to examine the spatial distribution of metabolites), pathological diagnosis (tumour grading, discovery of disease biomarkers, microbial imaging), drug metabolism (the distribution of drugs and metabolites across different organs and over time), and neuroscience (simultaneous imaging of neurotransmitters and lipids).

In the fields of plant science and food science, it reveals the spatially specific distribution of plant metabolites (such as the active ingredients in tea, ginkgo and Atractylodes macrocephala), supporting research into traditional Chinese medicine and agricultural products, as well as quality traceability.

In the fields of forensic science and public safety, it can be used for fingerprint imaging (clearly distinguishing ridges and detecting characteristic components such as cholesterol and squalene) and determining the chronological order of red and black ink (distinguishing between ‘writing first, then stamping’ or the reverse), providing indisputable evidence for the examination of physical evidence.

In the industrial and environmental sectors, it is used for the analysis of materials, cosmetics, packaging and dye components, and is equally applicable to environmental toxicology and archaeological research.

Neo Source INSTRUMENT’s MSI DPI and MSI LDPI systems have already been implemented in several of the above areas, with published case studies supporting their use ranging from rat brain sections and melanocytic naevi to tobacco leaves and cinnabar spots on Atractylodes macrocephala.

In specific cases, imaging of mouse brain sections allows for the simultaneous visualisation of neurotransmitter and lipid distribution; research on melanocytic naevi distinguishes the lipid characteristics of the naevus area from those of normal tissue; whilst studies on tobacco leaves and Atractylodes macrocephala have revealed the spatial specificity of plant alkaloids, amino acids and the composition of cinnabar spots. These published results demonstrate that the value of mass spectrometry imaging extends beyond mere ‘detection’; it lies in anchoring molecular information to specific spatial locations, thereby supporting mechanistic explanations.