What does this strategy enable?
This method links spatial metabolite signals to immunophenotyped cells on the same tissue section, adding a molecular cell-identity layer beyond morphology.
Transferable workflow
Workflow
- 1
Acquire MALDI images
Measure metabolites before antibody staining.
- 2
Acquire immunophenotypes
Remove matrix, stain with metal-tagged antibodies and perform IMC.
- 3
Register images and segment cells
Align modalities and derive cellular boundaries and phenotypes.
- 4
Assign metabolite signals
Aggregate overlapping image signals into relative per-cell profiles.
Connected resources
Tools used in this strategy
Strategy profile
Related objectives
Spatial metabolomics
Components
Sample preparation, Data acquisition, Metadata analysis, Statistical analysis
Scope and considerations
Designed for
- Spatial comparison of immunophenotyped cell populations.
Important requirements
- Compatible same-section MSI and IMC measurements.
Considerations
- MSI pixels can overlap multiple cells, mixing assigned signals.
- Cellular attribution depends on registration and segmentation.
Reusable resources
✓ Code available✓ Published method available
Publication
Nunes et al. Integration of mass cytometry and mass spectrometry imaging for spatially resolved single-cell metabolic profiling. Nature Methods (2024).