Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging: Principles, Advancements, and Multidisciplinary...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biomedical Imaging
• Mass Spectrometry

Background:

• Ambient ionization techniques like DESI-MSI enable molecular mapping without complex sample preparation.
• Since 2004, DESI-MSI has advanced in instrumentation and data processing for visualizing molecular distributions in tissues.
• It offers label-free, matrix-free analysis under atmospheric pressure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review the principles, instrumentation, and parameters of DESI-MSI.
• To evaluate recent technological advancements, including nanoscale DESI and enhanced solvent additives.
• To examine the multidisciplinary applications of DESI-MSI in various scientific fields.

Main Methods:

• Review of fundamental principles and instrumental configurations of DESI-MSI.
• Critical evaluation of technological advancements like nanoscale DESI and additive-enhanced solvents.
• Comprehensive examination of multidisciplinary applications in biomedicine, pharmaceuticals, and plant sciences.

Main Results:

• DESI-MSI provides high-throughput visualization of diverse molecules (lipids, metabolites, drugs) in tissues.
• Nanoscale DESI achieves sub-50 μm spatial resolution; additive-enhanced solvents improve sensitivity and specificity.
• Applications include cancer margin delineation, biomarker discovery, drug distribution analysis, and phytochemical mapping.

Conclusions:

• DESI-MSI is a transformative tool for spatial metabolomics with potential in clinical diagnostics and drug screening.
• Future directions include multimodal imaging, machine learning for data analysis, and clinical translation.
• Despite advantages, challenges in spatial resolution and data interpretation remain.