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 Aug. 2018
Accepted
12 Okt. 2018
First published
23 Okt. 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

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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