title: Laser Activated Electron Tunneling Based Mass Spectrometric Imaging of Molecular Architectures of Mouse Brain Revealing Regional Specific Lipids.
abstract: A comprehensive description of overall brain architecture at the molecular level is essential for understanding behavioral and cognitive processes in health and diseases. Although fluorescent labeling of target proteins has been successfully established to visualize a brain connectome, the molecular basis for diverse neurophysiological phenomena remains largely unknown. Here we report a brain-wide, molecular-level, and microscale imaging of endogenous metabolites, in particular, lipids of mouse brain by using laser activated electron tunneling (LAET) and mass spectrometry. In this approach, atomic electron emission along with finely tuned laser beam size provides high resolution that can be down to the sub-micrometer level to display spatial distribution of lipids in mouse brain slices. Electron-directed soft ionization has been achieved through exothermal capture of tunneling photoelectrons as well as unpaired electron-initiated chemical bond cleavages. Regionally specific lipids including saturated, mono-unsaturated, and poly-unsaturated fatty acids as well as other lipids, which may be implicated in neurological signaling pathways, have been discovered by using this laser activated electron tunneling based mass spectrometric imaging (LAET-MSI) technique.
authors.affiliation: Mass Spectrometry Center for Structural Identification of Biological Molecules and Precision Medicine, Key Laboratory of Pesticides and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University , Wuhan, Hubei 430079, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lulu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Mass Spectrometry Center for Structural Identification of Biological Molecules and Precision Medicine, Key Laboratory of Pesticides and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University , Wuhan, Hubei 430079, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xuemei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Mass Spectrometry Center for Structural Identification of Biological Molecules and Precision Medicine, Key Laboratory of Pesticides and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University , Wuhan, Hubei 430079, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wenyang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Mass Spectrometry Center for Structural Identification of Biological Molecules and Precision Medicine, Key Laboratory of Pesticides and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University , Wuhan, Hubei 430079, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ruowei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Mass Spectrometry Center for Structural Identification of Biological Molecules and Precision Medicine, Key Laboratory of Pesticides and Chemical Biology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University , Wuhan, Hubei 430079, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hongying
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D004583:Electrons; D005260:Female; D007834:Lasers; D008055:Lipids / Q000032:analysis*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D012666:Semiconductors
chemical_list: D008055:Lipids