There is an increasing appreciation that every cell, even of the same type, is different. This complexity, when additionally combined with the variety of different cell types in tissue, is driving the need for spatially resolved omics at the single-cell scale. Rapid advances are being made in genomics and transcriptomics, but progress in metabolomics lags. This is partly because amplification and tagging strategies are not suited to dynamically created metabolite molecules. Mass spectrometry imaging has excellent potential for metabolic imaging. This review summarizes the recent advances in two of these techniques: matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and their convergence in subcellular spatial resolution and molecular information. The barriers that have held back progress such as lack of sensitivity and the breakthroughs that have been made including laser-postionization are highlighted as well as the future challenges and opportunities for metabolic imaging at the single-cell scale.

中文翻译：

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单细胞规模的代谢成像：质谱成像的最新进展。

人们日益认识到，即使是同一类型的每个单元也不尽相同。当这种复杂性与组织中各种不同细胞类型的各种组合相结合时，正推动着对单细胞规模的空间分辨组学的需求。基因组学和转录组学正在迅速发展，但是代谢组学的进展却滞后。部分原因是扩增和标记策略不适合动态创建的代谢物分子。质谱成像具有出色的代谢成像潜力。这篇综述总结了其中两种技术的最新进展：基质辅助激光解吸电离（MALDI）和二次离子质谱（SIMS）以及它们在亚细胞空间分辨率和分子信息方面的融合。