MALDI mass spectrometry imaging of gangliosides in mouse brain using ionic liquid matrix

Mass spectrometry imaging has emerged as a powerful tool for the direct detection of biomolecules, mainly phospholipids, proteins and peptides, in tissue samples. To date, there is very little information available on the direct analysis of gangliosides in brain tissue. One major hurdle for imaging gangliosides in tissue using mass spectrometry is that sialic acid residues can be dissociated in ionization process. In this report, we investigated an ionic liquid matrix for mass spectrometry imaging of gangliosides. This ionic liquid matrix offered excellent sensitivity for detection gangliosides without significant loss of sialic acid residues. Thus, it can be used to study the abundance and anatomical localization of gangliosides in mouse brain using mass spectrometry imaging technique. Mass spectrometry image analyses of the mouse brain tissue sections demonstrated that the N-fatty acyl chains of gangliosides were differentially distributed in mouse hippocampal regions, whereby the gangliosides with N-C18 acyl chain were enriched in CA1 region, while gangliosides with N-C20 acyl chain were enriched in dentate gyrus. In addition, this observation is true for mono-, di- and tri-sialylated gangliosides. Although the linkage information was not determined, the mass spectrometry imaging technique was capable of spatial tissue mapping of ceramide structures in gangliosides.