Imaging mass spectrometry reveals changes of metabolites distribution in mouse testis during testicular maturation

Although lipid metabolism is thought to be important for proper testicular maturation, the molecular mechanisms underlying this dynamic process remain incompletely understood. Matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization imaging mass spectrometry (MALDI‐IMS) can generate molecular ion images of tissue surfaces with high sensitivities and minimal chemical damage. With a wide range of detectable targets, we visualized various kinds of metabolites, such as glutathione, UDP‐HexNAc, phosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelin, phosphatidylinositol, seminolipid, and sulfatide. Here, we demonstrate the use of MALDI‐IMS with frozen sections of mouse testis at different developmental stages and clearly reveal that some molecular species of phosphatidylcholines and seminolipids show stage‐specific expression in testis. The result suggested that these molecular species serve different cellular functions during maturation.