Establishment of a Method for Direct Analysis of the Mouse Brain Metabolome Using the DPiMS™-8060

Introduction

Metabolome analysis is a method for comprehensively analyzing endogenous metabolites such as amino acids, organic acids, fatty acids, and sugars, and in recent years has come to be widely used in the field of life science. Probe electrospray ionization (PESI) is a direct ionization method in which an ultrafine and minimally invasive probe is used for sampling. Acquired samples are ionized by applying a high voltage to the probe tip and therefore components can be analyzed without a chromatograph. By using the DPiMS-8060 probe electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometer, which combines PESI with tandem mass spectrometry, direct analysis of the metabolome of a biospecimen is possible. Generally, pretreatment is indispensable for the metabolome analysis of a brain sample since there are many lipids in the brain which cause interference in analysis. However, by using the DPiMS-8060, we succeeded in a direct and rapid analysis of metabolites in a brain sample without any pretreatment. This article introduces a method for analyzing brain metabolites using a PESI tandem mass spectrometer.

January 16, 2019 GMT