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Updated: Nov 6, 2025

Imaging of Biological Tissues by Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry
Published on: July 12, 2013
Imaging of Polar and Nonpolar Lipids Using Desorption Electrospray Ionization/Post-photoionization Mass Spectrometry
Chengyuan Liu1, Fei Qi2, Yang Pan3
1National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
Abstract:
Desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) can record 2D distribution of polar lipids in tissue slices at ambient condition. However, sensitivity of DESI-MSI for nonpolar lipids is restricted by low ionization efficiency and severe ion suppression. Here, a compact post-photoionization assembly combined with DESI (DESI/PI) was developed for simultaneous imaging polar and nonpolar lipids in tissue sections by switching off/on a portable krypton lamp. Compared with DESI, higher signal intensities of nonpolar compounds could be detected with DESI/PI. We describe the fabrication, optimization, implementation, and data transformation for imaging both the polar and nonpolar lipids in mouse brain tissue using an Agilent 6224 Accurate-Mass TOF mass spectrometer. More than ten nonpolar lipids including cholesterol and GalCer lipids were detected by DESI/PI in the positive ion mode, compared with that by DESI. In the negative-ion mode, ion yields of DESI/PI for lipids (HexCer, PE, and PE-P) were also increased by several folds.
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