Observation of Subcellular Metabolite Gradients in Single Cells by Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Getting to the point: Cell microdissection and analysis by the title technique was used to study the compartmentalization of metabolites within subcellular domains. Experiments performed on plant epidermal cells imply that there are significant differences between the metabolite composition in the nucleus and the cytoplasm. This technique is applicable to other cell types and may give insight into the mechanisms of disease and drug delivery.