Nanomaterials and continuous wave laser-based efficient desorption for atmospheric pressure mass spectrometric imaging of live hippocampal tissue slices.

Micrometer-resolution mass spectrometric imaging of live hippocampal tissue is achieved with a highly efficient desorption of biomolecules using a 532 nm continuous wave laser and gold nanoparticles or graphene oxide as an energy transporter, which enables clear identification of the distributions of monoacylglycerol, adenine, cholesterol, sphingosine and ceramide.