During the last decade, lateral and temporal localization of drug compounds and their metabolites have been demonstrated and dynamically developed using MS imaging. The pharmaceutical industry has recognized the potential of the technology that provides simultaneous distribution and quantitative data. In this review, we present the latest technological achievements and summarize applications of drug imaging focusing on studies about metabolites by MALDI-MS imaging. We also introduce potential areas with pharmaceutical applications that are currently under exploration, including pharmacological, toxicological characterizations and metabolic enzyme localization in comparison with drug and metabolite distribution.
Keywords: MS imaging; drug localization; drug metabolism; metabolic enzymes.