Work

A CH 4 ‐Driven Ion Cloud‐Stretched Approach Enables ICP‐ q MS for Multiplex Single‐Cell Analysis

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: In the last 40 years, inductively coupled plasma quadrupole ( q ) mass spectrometry (ICP‐ q MS) has been recognized as one of the best tools for the quantification of multiple elements/isotopes and even the biomolecules they labeled in a homogeneous solution sample. However, it meets a tough challenge when acquiring multi‐m/z signals from an intact single‐cell dispersed in a cell suspension, since the single‐cell ion cloud generated in ICP presents an intermittently transient event with a duration time of hundreds of microseconds while the dwell time plus settling time of the q is at the similar time scale when peak‐hopping between different m/z. Herein, we report CH 4 is able to stretch the single‐cell ion cloud duration time to more than 7,000 μs in collision‐reaction‐cell (CRC), allowing multi‐m/z signals acquisition by ICP‐ q MS. Quantification of single‐cell's multiple phenotype protein markers can thus be achieved on ICP‐(CH 4 ‐CRC)‐ q MS, not only revealing the heterogeneity between the single cells but also enabling an unambiguous cell‐classification of their subtypes. CH 4 ‐driven ion cloud‐stretched approach breaks through the long‐standing bottleneck limited single‐cell multiplex analysis on ICP‐ q MS, paving a path for more important applications of ICP‐ q MS in the fields related to single‐cell analysis.

Source: Chemistry - A European Journal

DOI: 10.1002/chem.202402289