LAUSR

Analysis of cellular composition and metabolism at a single cell resolution allows gaining more information about complex relationships of cells within tissues or whole living organisms by resolving the variance stemming from the cellular heterogeneity. Mass spectrometry is a perfect analytical tool satisfying the demanding requirements of detecting and identifying compounds present in such ultra-low-volume samples of high chemical complexity. However, the method of sampling and sample ionization is crucial in obtaining relevant information. In this work, we present a microfluidic sampling platform that integrates single-cell extraction from MS-incompatible media with electrical cell lysis and nanoESI-MS analysis of human erythrocytes. Hemoglobin alpha and beta chains (300 amol/cell) were successfully identified in mass spectra of single erythrocyte lysates. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.