A flow cytometric single-cell mass spectrometer and method of use thereof

Abstract

The invention relates to a flow unicellular mass spectrum analyzer and an application method thereof. The flow unicellular mass spectrum analyzer is characterized by comprising a sample feeding chamber, an ionization chamber, a mass spectrometry detector, a front-stage mechanical pump and a molecular pump, wherein a sample feeding system, a fluid focusing device and a heating and drying device arearranged in the sample feeding chamber; an outlet of the sample feeding system is connected to the fluid focusing device and an outlet of the fluid focusing device is connected to the heating and drying device; the outlet of the heating and drying device is connected to the ionization chamber, a vacuum ionization laser source, an accelerating electrode and an ion focusing lens are arranged in theionization chamber, the vacuum ionization laser source is used for emitting pulse laser beams to form ions, the acceleration electrode is used for accelerating the formed ions, and the ion focusing lens is used for focusing the accelerated ions; the outlet of the ionization chamber is connected to the mass spectrometry detector; and the ionization chamber and the mass spectrometry detector are both connected to the front-stage mechanical pump and the molecular pump. The flow unicellular mass spectrum analyzer and the application method thereof can be widely applied to the field of analysis and detection instruments.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a flow-type single-cell mass spectrometer and a method for using the same, belonging to the field of analysis and detection instruments. Background technique [0002] The basic unit of the structure and function of organisms is the cell. Only by in-depth study of the structure, function and behavior of cells can we understand the law of life activities and clarify the mechanism of disease occurrence. Most of the previous studies used population cells as the research object, and obtained averaged results. With the development of analysis methods, researchers found that there is heterogeneity among single cells, which is derived from random biological processes, such as DNA Small changes in transcription, protein expression, and the external environment accumulate. Obtaining accurate individual information of cells in the microenvironment is of great significance for the study of cell signal transduction, early diagnosis of majo...

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Problems solved by technology

The disadvantage of this method is that the fluorescent probes interfere with each other due to overlapping wavelengths, and the amount of information that can be obtained on each cell is limited, making it difficult to finely classify tumor cells.

However, the sampling device used in the mass spectrometry flow cytometer is based on the principle of pneumatic atomization, the atomization efficiency is low, the transmission efficiency is limited, and the cell sampling efficiency is about 30%, which is not conducive to the testing of precious cell samples.

And because the ionization source is inductively coupled plasma, only the elemental information of the cells can be obtained, and no further information on other small molecule metabolites can be obtained.

And the limitation of sample introduction and ionization method, the existing mass spectrometry flow cytometer can only be able to detect the components in a single cell by labeling

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