Department of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Analytical Sciences, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
Anal Chem. 2013 May 7;85(9):4268-72. doi: 10.1021/ac400317q. Epub 2013 Apr 18.
In modern bioanalytics, elemental analysis of single cells is important yet challenging due to the complicated biological matrices and elemental contents. We have developed the high irradiance femtosecond laser ionization orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometry (fs-LI-O-TOFMS) to determine the elemental composition of individual cells. The sample preparation procedure is simple and fast through heating and drying the cells. Under typical operating conditions, elements above femtogram levels in a single cell can be clearly observed in the spectrum with reasonable isotope ratios. Some of the nonmetallic elements that are difficult to measure by ICPMS, such as P, S, and Cl, can be easily determined by fs-LI-O-TOFMS. Replicate analyses show that signal variations are 15-35% for metallic elements and 25-50% for nonmetallic elements. The results demonstrate that fs-LI-O-TOFMS is a simple, rapid, and practical tool for the elemental determination of single cells.
在现代生物分析中，由于复杂的生物基质和元素含量，单细胞的元素分析是重要但具有挑战性的。我们已经开发出高辐照度飞秒激光电离正交飞行时间质谱（fs-LI-O-TOFMS），用于确定单个细胞的元素组成。通过加热和干燥细胞，样品制备过程简单快捷。在典型的操作条件下，单个细胞中纳克级水平以上的元素可以在光谱中用合理的同位素比清楚地观察到。一些难以用 ICPMS 测量的非金属元素，如 P、S 和 Cl，可以很容易地用 fs-LI-O-TOFMS 来确定。重复分析表明，金属元素的信号变化为 15-35%，非金属元素的信号变化为 25-50%。结果表明，fs-LI-O-TOFMS 是一种简单、快速、实用的单细胞元素分析工具。
