Enzymes are central components of most physiological processes, and are consequently implicated in various pathologies. High-resolution maps of enzyme activity within tissues therefore represent powerful tools for elucidating enzymatic functions in health and disease. Here, we present a novel mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) method for assaying the spatial distribution of enzymatic activity directly from tissue. MSI analysis of tissue sections exposed to phospholipid substrates produced high-resolution maps of phospholipase activity and specificity, which could subsequently be compared to histological images of the same section. Functional MSI thus represents a new and generalisable method for imaging biological activity in situ.

中文翻译：

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通过功能质谱成像绘制组织上的酶活性。

酶是大多数生理过程的核心成分，因此与各种病理有关。因此，组织内酶活性的高分辨率图谱代表了阐明酶在健康和疾病中的功能的有力工具。在这里，我们提出了一种新的质谱成像 (MSI) 方法，用于直接从组织中测定酶活性的空间分布。暴露于磷脂底物的组织切片的 MSI 分析产生了高分辨率的磷脂酶活性和特异性图，随后可以与同一切片的组织学图像进行比较。因此，功能性 MSI 代表了一种用于原位成像生物活性的新的通用方法。