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Updated: Apr 21, 2026

Imaging of Biological Tissues by Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry
Published on: July 12, 2013
Laser desorption postionization mass spectrometry imaging of biological targets
Artem Akhmetov1, Chhavi Bhardwaj, Luke Hanley
1Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, MC 111, 845 W. Taylor St., 4500 SES, Chicago, IL, 60607-7061, USA.
Abstract:
Laser desorption photoionization mass spectrometry (LDPI-MS) utilizes two separate light sources for desorption and photoionization of species from a solid surface. This technique has been applied to study a wide variety of molecular analytes in biological systems, but is not yet available in commercial instruments. For this reason, a generalized protocol is presented here for the use of LDPI-MS imaging to detect small molecules within intact biological samples. Examples are provided here for LDPI-MS imaging of an antibiotic within a tooth root canal and a metabolite within a coculture bacterial biofilm.
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