Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/20096
Title
Mass spectrometry coupled to imaging techniques: the better the view the greater the challenge
Author(s)
Date issued
2015-01-22
Citation
Barceló-Coblijn G, Fernandez JA. Mass spectrometry coupled to imaging techniques: the better the view the greater the challenge. Front Physiol. 2015 Jan 22;6:3.
Language
Inglés
Document type
research article
Abstract
These are definitively exciting times for membrane lipid researchers. Once considered just as the cell membrane building blocks, the important role these lipids play is steadily being acknowledged. The improvement occurred in mass spectrometry techniques (MS) allows the establishment of the precise lipid composition of biological extracts. However, to fully understand the biological function of each individual lipid species, we need to know its spatial distribution and dynamics. In the past 10 years, the field has experienced a profound revolution thanks to the development of MS-based techniques allowing lipid imaging (MSI). Images reveal and verify what many lipid researchers had already shown by different means, but none as convincing as an image: each cell type presents a specific lipid composition, which is highly sensitive to its physiological and pathological state. While these techniques will help to place membrane lipids in the position they deserve, they also open the black box containing all the unknown regulatory mechanisms accounting for such tailored lipid composition. Thus, these results urges to different disciplines to redefine their paradigm of study by including the complexity revealed by the MSI techniques.
Subject
Online version
DOI
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