Pairing MALDI-MSI with LC/GC-MS for Spatial Data
Yerkanat Syrgabej of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Kazakhstan) and his co-authors detail combining liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) to quantify and spatially map tissue contaminants.
Tracking where pollutants end up inside an organism, not just how much is present overall, is the gap a recent review article published in TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry1 tackles. Conventional liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) workflows for emerging contaminants like pharmaceuticals, PFAS, pesticides, and micro- and nanoplastics deliver excellent sensitivity, but require homogenizing the sample first, which destroys any information about where a compound localized within a tissue. This is a real blind spot, as bulk extraction can miss whether a pesticide penetrated the interior of a fruit rather than just sitting on its surface, or where a contaminant accumulates relative to specific organs or cell types.