Advances in mass spectrometry imaging coupled to ion mobility spectrometry for enhanced imaging of biological tissues

Tissues present complex biochemical and morphological composition associated with their various cell types and physiological functions. Mass spectrometry (MS) imaging technologies are powerful tools to investigate the molecular information from biological tissue samples and visualize their complex spatial distributions. Coupling of gas-phase ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) technologies to MS imaging has been increasingly explored to improve performance for biological tissue imaging. This approach allows improved detection of low abundance ions and separation of isobaric molecular species, thus resulting in more accurate determination of the spatial distribution of molecular ions. In this review, we highlight recent advances in the field focusing on promising applications of these technologies for metabolite, lipid and protein tissue imaging.