Mapping Enzyme Activity on Tissue by Functional Mass Spectrometry Imaging

Enzymes are central components of most physiological processes, and are consequently implicated in various pathologies. High-resolution maps of enzyme activity within tissues therefore represent powerful tools for elucidating enzymatic functions in health and disease. Here, we present a novel mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) method for assaying the spatial distribution of enzymatic activity directly from tissue. MSI analysis of tissue sections exposed to phospholipid substrates produced high-resolution maps of phospholipase activity and specificity, which could subsequently be compared to histological images of the same section. Functional MSI thus represents a new and generalisable method for imaging biological activity in situ.