Thermal evaporation as sample preparation for silver-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging of cholesterol in amyloid tissues

0585628 - ÚOCHB 2025 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
Strnad, Štěpán - Vrkoslav, Vladimír - Mengr, Anna - Fabián, O. - Rybáček, Jiří - Kubánek, M. - Melenovský, V. - Maletínská, Lenka - Cvačka, Josef
Thermal evaporation as sample preparation for silver-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging of cholesterol in amyloid tissues.
Analyst. Roč. 149, č. 11 (2024), s. 3152-3160. ISSN 0003-2654. E-ISSN 1364-5528
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) LX22NPO5104
Institutional support: RVO:61388963
Keywords : MSI * ATTR amyloidosis * alzheimer's disease
OECD category: Analytical chemistry
Impact factor: 4.2, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://doi.org/10.1039/D4AN00181H

Cholesterol plays an important biological role in the body, and its disruption in homeostasis and synthesis has been implicated in several diseases. Mapping the locations of cholesterol is crucial for gaining a better understanding of these conditions. Silver deposition has proven to be an effective method for analyzing cholesterol using mass spectrometry imaging (MSI). We optimized and evaluated thermal evaporation as an alternative deposition technique to sputtering for silver deposition in MSI of cholesterol. A silver layer with a thickness of 6 nm provided an optimal combination of cholesterol signal intensity and mass resolution. The deposition of an ultrathin nanofilm of silver enabled high-resolution MSI with a pixel size of 10 mu m. We used this optimized method to visualize the distribution of cholesterol in the senile plaques in the brains of APP/PS1 mice, a model that resembles Alzheimer's disease pathology. We found that cholesterol was evenly distributed across the frontal cortex tissue, with no evidence of plaque-like accumulation. Additionally, we investigated the presence and distribution of cholesterol in myocardial sections of a human heart affected by wild-type ATTR amyloidosis. We identified the presence of cholesterol in areas with amyloid deposition, but complete colocalization was not observed.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0353310