Lipid imaging with cluster time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry

Anal Bioanal Chem. 2009 Jan;393(1):31-5. doi: 10.1007/s00216-008-2367-3. Epub 2008 Sep 7.

Abstract

This brief article provides an overview of the current state of the art in biological imaging mass spectrometry using cluster time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). Recent and spectacular improvements in terms of sensitivity of TOF-SIMS imaging methods have allowed many biological applications to recently be successfully tested, such as mapping of lipid disorders in human muscles of a patient suffering from dystrophy, localization of surfactins after the swarming of bacteria on a surface, or lipid mapping over whole-body animal sections.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacillus subtilis / chemistry
  • Humans
  • Lipids / analysis*
  • Muscle, Skeletal / chemistry
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Secondary Ion / methods*

Substances

  • Lipids