Chemical imaging of biomolecules in skin using TOF-SIMS and multivariate analysis

Abstract

Chemical mapping of biomolecules in biological samples such as tissues and cells is crucial for biological, medical and biochemical fields. Although secondary ion images of biomolecules such as phosphocholine and cholesterol distributions on tissue samples are easily obtained with time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), the observation of minor ingredients is often difficult. In this study TOF-SIMS imaging data of skin samples were analyzed with a multivariate analysis technique, multivariate curve resolution (MCR), in order to investigate appropriate analysis conditions. Mice middorsal skin was sliced with a microtome and placed on indium-tin oxide glass plates. The samples were measured with TOF-SIMS using Bi 3 + , and then the obtained data were analyzed with MCR under various analysis conditions for investigating appropriate conditions. As a result, it is indicated that MCR classifies TOF-SIMS raw data into some categories representing different features, which makes interpretation of TOF-SIMS data easier.