Issue 3, 2019

Advances in mass spectrometry based single-cell metabolomics

Abstract

Metabolomics has grown into a prominent field contributing to the molecular understanding of complex biological processes in both health and disease. Furthermore, single-cells are known to display metabolic differences between seemingly homogeneous populations of cells. Single-cell metabolomics attempts to analyze many cellular metabolites from single cells to understand phenotypic heterogeneity, which is a significant challenge due to the low analyte abundances and limited sample volumes. Label-free metabolite detection can be achieved with mass spectrometry, which is capable of simultaneously analyzing hundreds of metabolites. Herein, we review the recent advances in mass spectrometry based single-cell metabolomics, highlighting the current state-of-the-art within the last three years, and identify the challenges to move the field forward.

Graphical abstract: Advances in mass spectrometry based single-cell metabolomics

Article information

Article type
Minireview
Submitted
15 8 2018
Accepted
12 10 2018
First published
23 10 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Analyst, 2019,144, 782-793

Advances in mass spectrometry based single-cell metabolomics

K. D. Duncan, J. Fyrestam and I. Lanekoff, Analyst, 2019, 144, 782 DOI: 10.1039/C8AN01581C

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