Identification of catecholamines in the immune system by desorption/ionization on silicon

Desorption/ionization from porous silicon dioxide (DIOSD), in combination with a standard matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) instrument, was used for the identification of catecholamines in the human peripheral blood lymphocytes. A routine MALDI-TOF analysis does not allow for sensitive detection of low molecular mass compounds (i.e. below 400 Da) due to the pronounced background ions arising from the matrix. Therefore, we have tested DIOSD methodology for the identification of catecholamines in the immune system. Using DIOSD, catecholamines were unambiguously identified in the cell extract of peripheral blood lymphocytes at the femtomolar level. The DIOSD extends the possible use of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry towards small molecules that were previously detected by other methods.