Abstract：
Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a sensitive, specific, label-free imaging analysis technique that can simultaneously obtain the spatial distribution, relative content, and structural information of hundreds of biomolecules in cells and tissues, such as lipids, small drug molecules, peptides, proteins, and other compounds. The study of molecular mapping of single cells can reveal major scientific issues such as the activity pattern of living organisms, disease pathogenesis, drug-targeted therapy, and cellular heterogeneity. Applying MSI technology to the molecular mapping of single cells can provide new insights and ideas for the study of single-cell metabolomics. This review aims to provide an informative resource for those in the MSI community who are interested in single-cell imaging. Particularly, we discuss advances in imaging schemes and sample preparation, instrumentation improvements, data processing and analysis, and 3D MSI over the past few years that have allowed MSI to emerge as a powerful technique in the molecular imaging of single cells. Also, we highlight some of the most cutting-edge studies in single-cell MSI, demonstrating the future potential of single-cell MSI. Visualizing molecular distribution at the single-cell or even sub-cellular level can provide us with richer cell information, which strongly contributes to advancing research fields such as biomedicine, life sciences, pharmacodynamic testing, and metabolomics. At the end of the review, we summarize the current development of single-cell MSI technology and look into the future of this technology.
摘要：
质谱成像(MSI)是一种灵敏的,具体,无标签成像分析技术，可以同时获得空间分布，相对含量，以及细胞和组织中数百种生物分子的结构信息，如脂质，药物小分子,肽，蛋白质，和其他化合物。单细胞分子图谱的研究可以揭示生物体的活动模式等重大科学问题,疾病的发病机理，药物靶向治疗,和细胞异质性。将MSI技术应用于单细胞分子图谱可以为单细胞代谢组学的研究提供新的见解和思路。这篇综述旨在为MSI社区中对单细胞成像感兴趣的人提供信息资源。特别是,我们讨论成像方案和样品制备的进展，仪表改进，数据处理和分析，和3DMSI在过去几年中，使MSI成为单细胞分子成像中的强大技术。此外，我们强调了单细胞MSI中一些最尖端的研究，展示了单细胞MSI的未来潜力。在单细胞甚至亚细胞水平上可视化分子分布可以为我们提供更丰富的细胞信息，这极大地促进了生物医学等研究领域的发展，生命科学,药效学试验,和代谢组学。在审查结束时,我们总结了目前单细胞MSI技术的发展现状，并展望了该技术的未来。
