Quantitative analysis of administered drugs in biological tissues is essential for understanding the mechanisms underlying their efficacy or toxicity. Imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) may allow the quantification of targeted drugs in tissue sections along with the visualization of their spatial distribution. In this study, surrogate tissue-based calibration standards were prepared to quantify a small molecule drug (S-777469 or raclopride) in tissue sections of mice administered with the drug, followed by analysis with a linear ion trap mass spectrometer equipped with a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) source. The distribution of the drugs in the dissected organs was clearly visualized by MALDI-IMS. The drug concentration determined using the calibration standards prepared for MALDI-IMS analysis was highly consistent with that determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, and the quantification in multiple organs was enabled. The results of this study show that MALDI-IMS can be used to quantify small molecule drugs in biological tissue sections using surrogate tissue-based calibration standards.

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Iron oxide nanoparticle (NP)-coated target plates were employed for the direct detection and analysis of low molecular weight lipids by laser desorption/ionization (LDI) mass spectrometry (MS). We have demonstrated that the use of the iron oxide NP-coated target provides a simple, direct, and rapid detection method for lipid standards and epidermal surface lipids without any cumbersome sample pretreatment as well as mass spectra that are free of background matrix peaks. Lipid standards (1-stearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycerol, 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-3-linoleoyl-rac-glycerol, 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) were detected as either protonated or cationated species. Clean MS/MS spectra for each lipid were also successfully obtained. Pre-MS surface cleaning of the target plates with UV-ozone treatment successfully removed organic contaminants that would interfere with the mass spectra especially in the low molecular weight region. Preliminary application of the presented target plate to the detection of endogenous lipids in latent fingerprints showed promising results and for potential use in the visualization and chemical composition determination of latent fingerprints by nanoparticle assistance.

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The fragmentation behavior of deprotonated L-phenylalanine (Phe) and its homologues including L-homophenylalanine (HPA) and L-phenylglycine (PG) was investigated using collision-induced dissociation mass spectrometry coupled with a negative ion atmospheric pressure corona discharge ionization (APCDI) technique. The deprotonated molecules [M−H]⁻ fragmented to lose unique neutral species, e.g., the loss of NH₃, CO₂, toluene and iminoglycine for [Phe−H]⁻; styrene and ethenamine/CO₂ for [HPA−H]⁻; and CO₂ for [PG−H]⁻. All of the fragmentations observed are attributable to the formation of intermediates and/or product ions which include benzyl carbanions having resonance-stabilized structures. The carbanions are formed via proton rearrangement through a transition state or via a simple dissociation reaction. These results suggest that the principal factor governing the fragmentation behavior of deprotonated Phe homologues is the stability of the intermediate and/or product ion structures.

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In this article, we describe the application of surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS) with the use of amine functionalized graphene-coated cobalt nanoparticles (CoC–NH₂ nanoparticles) to analyse aromatic hydrophobic compounds that are known environmental contaminants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pentachlorophenol (PCP). Our results demonstrated that SALDI-MS can detect PCP, anthracene, and pyrene in water. In particular, the CoC–NH₂ nanoparticles proved to be an efficient means of capturing PCP in water because of the high adsorption capacity of the nanoparticles for PCP, which resulted in a detectability of 100 ppt. Furthermore, the CoC–NH₂ nanoparticles also functioned as an adsorbent for solid-phase extraction of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) from human serum, displaying good performance with a detectability of 10 ppb by SALDI-MS.

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Niacin, a water-soluble vitamin belonging to the vitamin B group, has been known to cause various problems in the human body when deficient. The vitamin is derived from the diet and afterwards, niacin and its metabolites are secreted in blood or urine. It can be analyzed using liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to mass spectrometry, but niacin and its metabolites are very polar compounds. Recently, supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is gaining attention for polar compound analysis. To our best knowledge, the report on the analysis of endogenous-very hydrophilic metabolites in biofluids by SFC has not been found. In this study, we investigated whether the separation of hydrophilic metabolites in biofluids is achievable by SFC. In addition, we also examined the applicability of SFC coupled to MS in extrapolating unknown metabolites by means of spectra information. As a result, an analysis method to quantify the target compounds using SFC/MS/MS was constructed for niacin and its metabolites. Additional putative metabolites from niacin were also identified using the MS fragmentation spectra in plasma and urine. Consequently, the method using SFC/MS/MS allowed for the analysis of polar compounds with low log P ranging from −3.7 to 0.29. This study is the first report of the separation of niacin and its seven metabolites in human urine and these results showed that SFC-MS/MS can be an alternative technique for hydrophilic metabolite analysis.

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A new peak detection method has been developed for rapid selection of peptide and its fragment ion peaks for protein identification using tandem mass spectrometry. The algorithm applies classification of peak intensities present in the defined mass range to determine the noise level. A threshold is then given to select ion peaks according to the determined noise level in each mass range. This algorithm was initially designed for the peak detection of low resolution peptide mass spectra, such as matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectra. But it can also be applied to other type of mass spectra. This method has demonstrated obtaining a good rate of number of real ions to noises for even poorly fragmented peptide spectra. The effect of using peak lists generated from this method produces improved protein scores in database search results. The reliability of the protein identifications is increased by finding more peptide identifications. This software tool is freely available at the Mass++ home page (http://www.first-ms3d.jp/english/achievement/software/).

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Mass spectrometry (MS) is a highly sensitive analytical technique that is often coupled with liquid chromatography (LC). However, some buffering salts used in LC (e.g., phosphate and tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris)) are incompatible with MS since they cause ion-source contamination and signal suppression. In this study, we examined salt tolerance of MALDI and applied a matrix additive methylenediphosphonic acid (MDPNA) to reduce salt-induced signal suppression. MDPNA significantly improved the salt tolerance of MALDI-MS. Using ammonium formate buffer at pH 5.0, the effective range of buffering salt concentration in MALDI-MS using MDPNA was estimated up to 250 mM. MDPNA reduced signal suppression caused by buffering salts at pH 4.0 to 8.0. We observed that MDPNA effectively worked over a wide range of buffer conditions. MDPNA was further applied to hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) and chromatofocusing-MALDI-MS. As a result, the analytes in the eluent containing high-concentration salts were detected with high sensitivity. Thus, our study provides simple and fast LC-MALDI-MS analysis technique not having strict limitation of buffering condition in LC by using matrix additive MDPNA.

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Endophytic nitrogen-fixing organisms have been isolated from the aerial parts of field-grown sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas). The ¹⁵N dilution method, which is based on the differences in stable nitrogen isotope ratios, is useful for measuring nitrogen fixation in the field. In this study, seedlings of two sweet potato cultivars, ‘Beniazuma’ and ‘Benikomachi,’ were transplanted into an alluvial soil that had been treated with organic improving material in advance. Whole plants were sampled every 2 or 3 weeks. After separating plants into tuberous roots and leaves, the fresh weights of the samples were measured, and the nitrogen content and natural ¹⁵N content of leaves were determined with an elemental analyzer and an isotope ratio mass spectrometer linked to an elemental analyzer, respectively. The contribution of nitrogen fixation derived from atmospheric N₂ in sweet potato was calculated by assuming that leaves at 2 weeks after transplanting were in a non-nitrogen-fixing state. The contribution ratios of nitrogen fixation by nitrogen-fixing endophytes in leaves of both sweet potato cultivars increased rapidly from 35 to 61 days after transplanting and then increased gradually to 55–57% at 90 days after transplanting. Over the course of the sweet potato growing season, the activity of nitrogen-fixing endophytes in leaves began to increase at about 47 days after transplanting, the weight of leaves increased rapidly, and then growth of tuberous roots began a few weeks later. Our findings indicate that nitrogen-fixing endophytes will be activated under inorganic nitrogen-free sweet potato cultivation, allowing for growth of the tuberous roots.

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Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry was applied to the profiling of sucrose fatty acid esters (SEs). The SFC conditions (column and modifier gradient) were optimized for the effective separation of SEs. In the column test, a silica gel reversed-phase column was selected. Then, the method was used for the detailed characterization of commercial SEs and the successful analysis of SEs containing different fatty acids. The present method allowed for fast and high-resolution separation of monoesters to tetra-esters within a shorter time (15 min) as compared to the conventional high-performance liquid chromatography. The applicability of our method for the analysis of SEs was thus demonstrated.

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