•MALDI- FT ICR MS imaging of methamphetamine on the longitudinal single hair.•Umbelliferone was used as a new matrix to enrich and assist ionization efficiency.•The method improves the accessibility of analytes embedded in the hair for imaging.•Providing a tool for drug abuse analysis with time resolution shorter than a week.Segmental hair analysis offers a longer period for retrospective drug detection than blood or urine. Hair is a keratinous fiber and is strongly hydrophobic. The embedding of drugs in hydrophobic hair at low concentrations makes it difficult for extraction and detection with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) coupled with mass spectrometric imaging (MSI). In this study, a single scalp hair was longitudinally cut with a cryostat section to a length of 4 mm and fixed onto a stainless steel MALDI plate. Umbelliferone was used as a new hydrophobic matrix to enrich and assist the ionization efficiency of methamphetamine in the hair sample. MALDI-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR)-MS profiling and imaging were performed for direct detection and mapping of methamphetamine on the longitudinal sections of the single hair sample in positive ion mode. Using MALDI-MSI, the distribution of methamphetamine was observed throughout five longitudinally sectioned hair samples from a drug abuser. The changes of methamphetamine were also semi-quantified by comparing the ratios of methamphetamine/internal standard (I.S). This method improves the detection sensitivity of target drugs embedded in a hair matrix for imaging with mass spectrometry. The method could provide a detection level of methamphetamine down to a nanogram per milligram incorporated into hair. The results were also compared with the conventional high performance liquid chromatography -tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) method. Changes in the imaging results over time by the MSI method showed good semi-quantitative correlation to the results from the HPLC-MS/MS method. This study provides a powerful tool for drug abuse control and forensic medicine analysis in a narrow time frame, and a reduction in the sample amount required.Download high-res image (250KB)Download full-size image

•MALDI-MS imaging of olanzapine in hair using esculetin as a matrix.•Esculetin increased the affinity, extraction and ionization efficiency of olanzapine.•The spatial distributions of olanzapine were observed throughout hairs from drug users.•MALDI imaging intensities showed good semi-quantitative correlation to HPLC–MS/MS.•MALDI-MSI is suitable for monitoring drug of intake with a high time resolution.Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometric imaging (MALDI-MSI) for the analysis of intact hair is a powerful tool for monitoring changes in drug consumption. The embedding of a low drug concentration in the hydrophobic hair matrix makes it difficult to extract and detect, and requires an improved method to increase detection sensitivity. In this study, an MSI method using MALDI-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance was developed for direct identification and imaging of olanzapine in hair samples using the positive ion mode. Following decontamination, scalp hair samples from an olanzapine user were scraped from the proximal to the distal end three times, and 5 mm hair sections were fixed onto an Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO)-coated microscopic glass slide. Esculetin (6,7-dihydroxy-2H-chromen-2-one) was used as a new hydrophobic matrix to increase the affinity, extraction and ionization efficiency of olanzapine in the hair samples. The spatial distribution of olanzapine was observed using five single hairs from the same drug user. This matrix improves the affinity of olanzapine in hair for molecular imaging with mass spectrometry. This method may provide a detection power for olanzapine to the nanogram level per 5 mm hair. Time course changes in the MSI results were also compared with quantitative HPLC–MS/MS for each 5 mm segment of single hair shafts selected from the MALDI target. MALDI imaging intensities in single hairs showed good semi-quantitative correlation with the results from conventional HPLC–MS/MS. MALDI-MSI is suitable for monitoring drug intake with a high time resolution.Download high-res image (133KB)Download full-size image

Identification of impurities in 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) by mass spectrometry is difficult, because MS-incompatible mobile phases, such as phosphate buffers or ion-pair reagents, need to be used to separate the major component from impurities. In this study, the unknown impurities in ALA have been identified by two-dimensional (2D) column-switching high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with linear ion trap mass spectrometry (LIT MS). The first-dimensional analytical column was a Gemini C18 (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) with a non-volatile salt mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min−1, and the second-dimensional analytical column was a ZORBAX SB C8 (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 3.5 μm) with a volatile salt mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min−1. The detection wavelength was 205 nm. Mass spectra were acquired with an ESI source, in both positive and negative ion modes. Six impurities were identified by their MS2 and MS3 fragments, and the mass fragmentation patterns and structural assignments of these impurities were studied. The results obtained by the two-dimensional column-switching method were further compared with those of the conventional one-dimensional normal-phase HPLC–MS using an amide column and an MS-compatible mobile phase for separation. The two-dimensional column-switching method described herein proved to be advantageous in terms of the number of impurities identified. The column-switching and online demineralization technique made the mobile phase conditions compatible with mass spectrometry. Thus, the method solves the problem of incompatibility between non-volatile salt mobile phases and mass spectrometry, making it worthy of popularization and application in impurity identification.

•Coumarins were used as new MALDI matrices.•Coumarins were used for MALDI-FT ICR MS detection of hydrophobic compounds.•DCA had improvement in detection sensitivity, stability, selectivity and reproducibility.•DCA was applied to sterols detection in yeast cells.Hydrophobic compounds with hydroxyl, aldehyde or ketone groups are generally difficult to detect using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS), because these compounds have low proton affinity and are poorly ionized by MALDI. Herein, coumarins have been used as new matrices for MALDI-MS analysis of a variety of hydrophobic compounds with low ionization efficiency, including steroids, coenzyme Q10, a cyclic lipopeptide and cholesterol oleate. Five coumarins, including coumarin, umbelliferone, esculetin, 7-hydroxycoumarin-3-carboxylic acid (HCA) and 6,7-dihydroxycoumarin-3-carboxylic acid (DCA), were compared with the conventional matrices of 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB) and α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (CHCA). Coumarins with hydroxyl or carboxylic acid groups enabled detection. Taking DCA as an example, this matrix proved to be superior to DHB or CHCA in detection sensitivity, stability, spot-to-spot and sample-to-sample reproducibility, and accuracy. DCA increased the stability of the target compounds and decreased the loss of water. The [M + Na]+ peaks were observed for all target compounds by adding NaCl as an additive, and the [M − H2O + H]+ and [M + H]+ peaks decreased. DCA was selected for the identification of sterols in yeast cells, and thirteen sterols were detected by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT ICR) mass spectrometry. This work demonstrates the potential of DCA as a new matrix for detection of hydrophobic molecules by MALDI-MS and provides an alternative tool for screening sterols in antifungal research.

•High pH reversed-phase fractionation (RPF)-nano-LC–MS/MS method was developed.•The method was applied in the global proteomic profiling of six cell lines.•7300–8956 proteins were identified in the cell samples.•Showing greater advantages in the number and shorter time.•RPF-nano-LC–MS/MS achieved an extensive proteomic coverage of cell lines.Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) and first-dimensional fractionation is widely used for reducing sample complexity in large-scale proteomic profiling experiments. However, the limited number of proteins identified and the relatively long running time are a barrier to the successful application of this approach. In this study, off-line high pH reversed-phase fractionation (RPF) was combined with nano-LC–MS/MS in order to develop an improved method for global proteomic profiling of different cell lines. In the first dimensional reverse phase HPLC separation, 300 μg of digested cell protein was separated into 78 fractions under high pH conditions and condensed into 26 fractions for the second nano-LC–MS/MS analysis at low pH. The chromatographic conditions for the first and second steps were optimized, and the accuracy and reproducibility of protein quantification were investigated with an average Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.94. The method was then applied in the identification of proteins in six common cell lines (DMS, MFM, HepG2, U2OS, 293T and yeast), which resulted in identification of 7300–8500 and 8956 proteins in heavy/light labeled and label-free cell samples, respectively, in 1.5 days. The performance of the developed method was compared with isoelectric focusing (IEF)-nano-LC–MS/MS and the previously reported method; and off-line high pH RPF-nano-LC–MS/MS proved advantageous in terms of the number of proteins identified and the analytical time needed to achieve a successful global proteomic profiling outcome. The RPF-nano-LC–MS/MS method identified more proteins from low abundance (150 μg) samples with an average sequence coverage for each cell line of 23.4–35.1%. RPF-nano-LC–MS/MS may therefore be an efficient alternative tool for achieving improved proteomic coverage of multiple cell lines.