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Updated: Nov 15, 2025

Microprobe Capillary Electrophoresis Mass Spectrometry for Single-cell Metabolomics in Live Frog Xenopus laevis Embryos
Published on: December 22, 2017
Spray-Capillary-Based Capillary Electrophoresis Mass Spectrometry for Metabolite Analysis in Single Cells
Lushuang Huang1, Mulin Fang1, Kellye A Cupp-Sutton1
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, United States.
Abstract:
Single-cell capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry (CE-MS) is a promising platform to analyze cellular contents and probe cell heterogeneity. However, current single-cell CE-MS methods often rely on offline microsampling processes and may demonstrate low sampling precision and accuracy. We have recently developed an electrospray-assisted device, spray-capillary, for low-volume sample extraction. With the spray-capillary, low-volume samples (pL-nL) are drawn into the sampling end of the device, which can be used directly for CE separation and online MS detection. Here, we redesigned the spray-capillary by utilizing a capillary with a <15 μm tapered tip so that it can be directly inserted into single cells for sample collection and on-capillary CE-MS analysis. We evaluated the performance of the modified spray-capillary by performing single-cell microsampling on single onion cells with varying sample injection times and direct MS analysis or online CE-MS analysis. We have demonstrated, for the first time, online sample collection and CE-MS for the analysis of single cells. This application of the modified spray-capillary device facilitates the characterization and relative quantification of hundreds of metabolites in single cells.
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