Live Single-cell Mass Spectrometry for Organelle Metabolomics

Abstract

We have developed a direct mass-spectrometry method that enables speedy molecular analysis of a live single cell under microscopic observation, called "Live Single-cell Mass Spectrometry". This method can micro-suck subcellular components of a cell, which makes possible direct and real-time metabolic analyses of the cell behavior-linked molecular profile. Furthermore, by using stable isotope-labeled reagents we can trace certain metabolic processes in a live single cell. In this study, we applied this method to analyze the localizations of the histidine metabolites, and to trace their metabolic pathways in the organelle of a rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells.