Single-cell ICP-MS to address the role of trace elements at a cellular level

Ana Beatriz Santos da Silva; Marco Aurélio Zezzi Arruda

doi:10.1016/j.jtemb.2022.127086

Single-cell ICP-MS to address the role of trace elements at a cellular level

J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2023 Jan:75:127086. doi: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2022.127086. Epub 2022 Sep 28.

Authors

Ana Beatriz Santos da Silva¹, Marco Aurélio Zezzi Arruda²

Affiliations

¹ Spectrometry, Sample Preparation and Mechanization Group, Institute of Chemistry, University of Campinas - Unicamp, P.O. Box 6154, Campinas, SP 13083-970, Brazil; National Institute of Science and Technology for Bioanalytics, Institute of Chemistry, University of Campinas - Unicamp, P.O. Box 6154, Campinas, SP 13083-970, Brazil. Electronic address: anabs30@unicamp.br.
² Spectrometry, Sample Preparation and Mechanization Group, Institute of Chemistry, University of Campinas - Unicamp, P.O. Box 6154, Campinas, SP 13083-970, Brazil; National Institute of Science and Technology for Bioanalytics, Institute of Chemistry, University of Campinas - Unicamp, P.O. Box 6154, Campinas, SP 13083-970, Brazil.

PMID: 36215757
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2022.127086

Abstract

The heterogeneity properties shown by cells or unicellular organisms have led to the development of analytical methods at the single-cell level. In this sense, considering the importance of trace elements in these biological systems, the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) configured for analyzing single cell has presented a high potential to assess the evaluation of elements in cells. Moreover, advances in instrumentation, such as coupling laser ablation to the tandem configuration (ICP-MS/MS), or alternative mass analyzers (ICP-SFMS and ICP-TOFMS), brought significant benefits, including sensitivity improvement, high-resolution imaging, and the cell fingerprint. From this perspective, the single-cell ICP-MS has been widely reported in studies involving many fields, from oncology to environmental research. Hence, it has contributed to finding important results, such as elucidating nanoparticle toxicity at the cellular level and vaccine development. Therefore, in this review, the theory of single-cell ICP-MS analysis is explored, and the applications in this field are pointed out. In addition, the instrumentation advances for single-cell ICP-MS are addressed.

Keywords: Single-cell; elemental analysis; scICP-MS.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Trace Elements*

Substances

Trace Elements