Subcellular analysis by laser ablation electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

1. A method of laser ablation electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, the method comprising:

micro-dissecting a cell comprising at least one of a cell wall and a cell membrane to expose in the cell at least one subcellular component having a water content;

ablating in the cell the at least one subcellular component by a mid-infrared laser pulse to form an ablation plume;

intercepting the ablation plume by an electrospray plume to form ions; and

detecting the ions by mass spectrometry;

wherein the laser pulse has a laser energy that is absorbed by the water.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein micro-dissecting the cell comprises cutting at least a portion of the at least one of a cell wall and a cell membrane by at least one of a microdissection tool, an optical tweezer, and at least one laser pulse.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein micro-dissecting the cell comprises cutting at least a portion of the at least one of a cell wall and a cell membrane by a microdissection tool comprising a tungsten needle having a tip diameter of less than 1 μm to 5 μm.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein micro-dissecting the cell comprises cutting at least a portion of the at least one of a cell wall and a cell membrane by an optical tweezer comprising a laser, a beam expander, beam steering optics comprising at least one of a mirror, a lens, and a condenser.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein micro-dissecting the cell comprises irradiating the at least one of a cell wall and a cell membrane with at least one laser pulse having a wavelength of 100 nm to 8 μm, a diameter of 0.5-20 μm, and a pulse length of less than one picosecond to 100 ns under ambient conditions.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the laser pulse has a wavelength of 800 nm, a diameter of 1 μm, and a pulse length of 200 fs.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the laser pulse has a wavelength of 100 nm to 400 nm, a diameter of 1 μm to 5 μm, and a pulse length of 1 ns to 100 ns.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein micro-dissecting the cell comprises irradiating the cell with a laser pulse by a microdissection optical fiber comprising a core diameter, a tip radius of curvature, a tip angle of inclination, and a tip distance from the cell.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the microdissection optical fiber core diameter is 15-450 μm, the microdissection optical fiber tip radius of curvature is 0.1-10 lam, the microdissection optical fiber tip angle of inclination is 15-90°, and the microdissection optical fiber tip distance is 0-30 μm.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein ablating the at least one subcellular component comprises irradiating the cell with the laser pulse by an ablation optical fiber comprising a core diameter, a tip radius of curvature, a tip angle of inclination, and a tip distance from the cell.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the ablation optical fiber core diameter is 15-450 μm, the ablation optical fiber tip radius of curvature is 0.1-25 μm, the ablation optical fiber tip angle of inclination is 15-90°, and the ablation optical fiber tip distance is 0-30 μm.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein micro-dissecting the cell comprises generating an opening in the at least one of a cell wall and a cell membrane having a diameter of 1-50 μm.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one subcellular component comprises at least one exchangeable hydrogen, and exchanging the at least one exchangeable hydrogen with at least one isotope.

14. The method of claim 1 comprising staining the at least one subcellular component.

15. The method of claim 1 comprising positioning the cell on a temperature controlled sample stage in an environmental chamber having a temperature between and 40° C. and a relative humidity of 10-90%.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cell is an eukaryotic cell having a smallest dimension of 1 μm to 100 μm, 25 μm to 100 μm, 10 μm to 25 μm, and 1 μm to 10 μm.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one subcellular component comprises one or more of cytoplasm, a nucleus, a mitochondrion, a chloroplast, a ribosome, an endoplasmic reticulum, a Golgi apparatus, a lysosome, a proteasome, a secretory vesicle, a vacuole, and a microsome.

18. An in situ method of laser ablation electrospray ionization mass spectrometry of a sample comprising at least one subcellular component having a water content, the method comprising:

micro-dissecting the sample to expose in the cell the at least one subcellular component;

ablating in the cell the exposed at least one subcellular component by a mid-infrared laser pulse to form an ablation plume;

intercepting the ablation plume by an electrospray plume to form ions; and

detecting the ions by mass spectrometry;

wherein the laser pulse has a laser energy that is absorbed by the water.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the sample comprises at least one of a cell wall and a cell membrane, and micro-dissecting the sample comprises at least one of piercing, cutting, rupturing, separating and removing at least a portion of the at least one of a cell wall and a cell membrane.

20. The method of claim 19 comprising at least one of piercing, cutting, rupturing, separating and removing at least a portion of a membrane enclosing the at least one subcellular component.