Rapid MALDI mass spectrometry imaging for surgical pathology

Sankha S. Basu,Nathalie Y. R. Agar,Michael S. Regan,Dale S. Cornett,Elizabeth C. Randall,Andreas Haase,Begoña Gimenez-Cassina Lopez,Amanda R. Clark,Sandro Santagata,Walid M. Abdelmoula

doi:10.1038/s41698-019-0089-y

Abstract

Matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI MSI) is an emerging analytical technique, which generates spatially resolved proteomic and metabolomic images from tissue specimens. Conventional MALDI MSI processing and data acquisition can take over 30 min, limiting its clinical utility for intraoperative diagnostics. We present a rapid MALDI MSI method, completed under 5 min, including sample preparation and analysis, providing a workflow compatible with the clinical frozen section procedure.

Highlights

The frozen section procedure dates back over a century[1] and remains the primary mode of intraoperative tissue analysis in nearly every operating room in the world
By shortening steps 2 and 3 and effectively eliminating step 1 (Fig. 1a), we provide here a rapid MALDI MSI method, which can be performed in
After achieving substantial improvements in processing time for MALDI MSI, we applied this “rapid” method to cryosectioned brains from healthy mice, which highlighted all major landmarks of the mouse brain, including the cerebral cortex, hippocampal regions, thalamus, basal ganglia, and globus pallidus

Summary

Introduction

The frozen section procedure dates back over a century[1] and remains the primary mode of intraoperative tissue analysis in nearly every operating room in the world. We describe an optimization strategy to reduce the preparation and analytical time considerably, and demonstrate its performance on both mouse brain tissue and surgical resection specimens from patients.

Results

Conclusion