Engineered Reactive Interfaces Enable Mass Spectrometry Imaging of Multiple Thiols for Decoding PFOS-Induced Redox...

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Toxicology

Background:

• Spatial profiling of thiols is crucial for understanding redox status and oxidative stress.
• Traditional MALDI MSI methods for thiol visualization suffer from low sensitivity and spatial fidelity due to complex derivatization and matrix adducts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a sensitive and spatially accurate method for profiling multiple thiols in tissues.
• To investigate thiol distribution patterns and oxidative stress-induced changes in tissues.

Main Methods:

• Engineered a reactive interface-assisted chemical derivatization platform using N-(9-Acridinyl) maleimide (NAM) probes.
• Formed a "matrix-tissue-interface" sandwich structure for enhanced thiol detection.
• Utilized MALDI MSI for spatial profiling of thiols like MEA, Cys, Cys-Gly, GSH, and ET.

Main Results:

• The novel platform demonstrated enhanced sensitivity and spatial mapping fidelity for multiple thiols.
• Distinct tissue-specific distribution patterns of various thiols were observed.
• Redox dysregulation in the kidney induced by PFOS exposure was successfully identified.

Conclusions:

• The developed MSI methodology significantly improves derivatization performance for low-abundance molecule imaging.
• This approach facilitates the investigation of oxidative stress-related diseases and pollutant toxicology.
• The reactive interface platform offers a robust tool for sensitive thiol assessment in complex biological samples.