MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging, a New Frontier in Biostructural Techniques: Applications in Biomedicine

MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MALDI-MSI) is an advanced mass spectrometry technique that enables images of the distribution of xenobiotics and biomolecules such as lipids, peptides and proteins to be obtained directly from intact tissue sections. Uniquely amongst imaging technologies, multiple images of thousands of ions can be obtained simultaneously in a single analysis. Since images are obtained by simply monitoring the m/z of ions generated from compounds of interest antibodies and molecular radioactive or fluorescent probes are not required. Since its invention in 1997, this technology has proven to have an enormous potential to impact several lifescience fields. In this chapter, principles and applications of MALDI-MSI will be illustrated with particular attention to microbial investigation.