High-Throughput Analysis of Tissue-Embedded Single Cells by Mass Spectrometry with Bimodal Imaging and Object Recognition.

In biological tissues, cell-to-cell variations stem from the stochastic and modulated expression of genes and the varying abundances of corresponding proteins. These variations are then propagated to downstream metabolite products and result in cellular heterogeneity. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a promising tool to simultaneously provide spatial distributions for hundreds of biomolecules without the need for labels or stains.

Single-Cell Metabolic Profiling: Metabolite Formulas from Isotopic Fine Structures in Heterogeneous Plant Cell Populations.

Characterization of the metabolic heterogeneity in cell populations requires the analysis of single cells. Most current methods in single-cell analysis rely on cell manipulation, potentially altering the abundance of metabolites in individual cells. A small sample volume and the chemical diversity of metabolites are additional challenges in single-cell metabolomics.

Metabolic Noise and Distinct Subpopulations Observed by Single Cell LAESI Mass Spectrometry of Plant Cells .

Phenotypic variations and stochastic expression of transcripts, proteins, and metabolites in biological tissues lead to cellular heterogeneity. As a result, distinct cellular subpopulations emerge. They are characterized by different metabolite expression levels and by associated metabolic noise distributions.