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… Click to show full abstract
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.
               
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