Recent advances in single-cell analysis by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry: A review

The content, migration and transformation of trace elements in living organisms play an important role in physiological activities. The analysis of trace elements in cells is of great significance to understand the function mechanism of trace elements in cells and organisms. Compared with conventional bulk analysis, many medical and clinical researches benefit from cell heterogeneity via single-cell analysis. Time-resolved analysis-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (TRA-ICP-MS) based strategies have the potential for both counting and quantitative assessment. It has been used to evaluate cell-to-cell difference in elemental content, cellular uptake of metal-containing drugs and nanoparticles. This review focuses on TRA-ICP-MS based methodologies for single-cell analysis over the past few decades. Recent advances in ICP-MS instrumentations (cell introduction systems and mass spectrometers), microfluidic platforms and their in-depth applications in single-cell analysis are summarized. This review also prospects future developments of TRA-ICP-MS for single-cell analysis.