Nagano Erika, Saito Hiromi, Mannari Tetsuya, Kuge Munekazu, Odake Kazuki, Shimma Shuichi
Miruion Inc., 7-7-20 Asagi, Saito, Suita, Osaka 567-0085, Japan.
Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
Mass Spectrom (Tokyo). 2024;13(1):A0149. doi: 10.5702/massspectrometry.A0149. Epub 2024 Jul 24.
Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a technique that visualizes the distribution of molecules by ionizing the components on the surface of a sample and directly detecting them. Previously, MSI using hair has primarily been used in the forensic field to detect illegal drugs. On the other hand, there are few examples of using this technology for health monitoring. In this study, hair and clinical data were collected from 24 subjects, and the correlation between blood cholesterol levels and cholesterol detected from cross-sectional hair slices was analyzed. As a result, a positive correlation with a correlation coefficient of 0.43 was observed between blood cholesterol and cholesterol detected from hair. Furthermore, when comparing the results of fluorescence staining (FS) of hair cholesterol with Filipin III and the MSI results, it was found that while FS could visualize detailed hair structures, there were cases where the results differed from MSI, possibly due to some cholesterol loss during the staining process. In the future, if various disease biomarkers can be detected using hair MSI, it could potentially become a non-invasive diagnostic method.
质谱成像（MSI）是一种通过使样品表面的成分离子化并直接检测来可视化分子分布的技术。此前，使用头发的MSI主要用于法医领域以检测非法药物。另一方面，将该技术用于健康监测的例子很少。在本研究中，收集了24名受试者的头发和临床数据，并分析了血液胆固醇水平与从横断面头发切片中检测到的胆固醇之间的相关性。结果，在血液胆固醇与从头发中检测到的胆固醇之间观察到相关系数为0.43的正相关。此外，当比较用菲律宾菌素III对头发胆固醇进行荧光染色（FS）的结果与MSI结果时，发现虽然FS可以可视化头发的详细结构，但存在结果与MSI不同的情况，这可能是由于染色过程中一些胆固醇流失所致。未来，如果可以使用头发MSI检测各种疾病生物标志物，它可能会成为一种非侵入性诊断方法。
