Histological examination with a deep link between functional metabolites and tissue structure and biofunctions will provide important in situ biochemical information, and then essentially reveal what has happened in tissue at the molecular level. However, due to the complexity and heterogeneity of tissue samples and the large number of metabolites, it is still a challenge to globally map the diverse metabolites, especially for those low‐abundance functional ones. Here, a sensitive air flow‐assisted desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging method for the mapping of a broad range of metabolites is presented. It exhibits properties characteristic of wide coverage, high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, rapid analysis procedure, and high specificity for tissue metabolites imaging. More than 1500 metabolites, including cholines, polyamines, amino acids, carnitines, nucleosides, nucleotides, nitrogen bases, organic acids, carbohydrates, cholesterol sulfate, cholic acid, lipids, etc., can be visualized in an untargeted analysis. The distribution of metabolites shows good spatial match with tissue histological structure and biofunctions in heterogeneous rat kidney, rat brain, and human esophageal cancer tissue. This method possesses the ability to globally showcase the molecular processes in tissue, and provide an insightful way for structural and functional molecular recognition in histological examination, even for intraoperative decision‐making.

中文翻译：

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基于分子组织学的功能代谢物的灵敏且广泛覆盖的环境质谱成像方法

功能代谢物与组织结构和生物功能之间存在深刻联系的组织学检查将提供重要的原位生化信息，然后从本质上揭示组织在分子水平上发生的情况。然而，由于组织样本的复杂性和异质性以及大量代谢物，全球绘制多样化代谢物图谱仍然是一个挑战，特别是对于那些低丰度的功能代谢物。在这里，提出了一种灵敏的气流辅助解吸电喷雾电离质谱成像方法，用于绘制广泛的代谢物图谱。它具有覆盖范围广、灵敏度高、动态范围宽、分析速度快、组织代谢物成像特异性高等特点。超过 1500 种代谢物，包括胆碱、多胺、氨基酸、肉碱、核苷、核苷酸、氮碱、有机酸、碳水化合物、硫酸胆固醇、胆酸、脂质等，可以在非靶向分析中可视化。在异质大鼠肾、大鼠脑和人食管癌组织中，代谢物的分布与组织组织结构和生物功能具有良好的空间匹配性。该方法具有全局展示组织中分子过程的能力，为组织学检查中的结构和功能分子识别甚至术中决策提供了一种富有洞察力的方法。