Due to its strong ultraviolet absorption, low background interference in the small molecular range, and salt tolerance capacity, N-phenyl-2-naphthylamine (PNA) was developed as a novel matrix in the present study for analysis and imaging of small molecules by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry time-of-fight (MALDI-TOF MS). The newly developed matrix displayed good performance in analysis of a wide range of small-molecule metabolites including free fatty acids, amino acids, peptides, antioxidants, and phospholipids. In addition, PNA-assisted LDI MS imaging of small molecules in brain tissue of rats subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) revealed unique distributions and changes of 89 small-molecule metabolites including amino acids, antioxidants, free fatty acids, phospholipids, and sphingolipids in brain tissue 24 h postsurgery. Fifty-nine of the altered metabolites were identified, and all the changed metabolites were subject to relative quantitation and statistical analysis. The newly developed matrix has great potential application in the field of biomedical research.

中文翻译：

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N-苯基-2-萘胺作为一种新型MALDI基质，用于小分子的分析和原位成像

由于其强大的紫外线吸收，小分子范围内的低背景干扰和耐盐能力，N-苯基-2-萘胺（PNA）在本研究中被开发为新型基质，用于通过基质辅助激光解吸/电离质谱飞行时间（MALDI-TOF MS）分析和成像小分子。新开发的基质在分析各种小分子代谢物（包括游离脂肪酸，氨基酸，肽，抗氧化剂和磷脂）中表现出良好的性能。此外，PNA辅助的大脑中动脉阻塞（MCAO）大鼠脑组织中小分子的LDI MS成像显示了89种小分子代谢物的独特分布和变化，包括氨基酸，抗氧化剂，游离脂肪酸，磷脂和术后24小时脑组织中的鞘脂。鉴定出59种改变的代谢物，对所有变化的代谢物进行相对定量和统计分析。新开发的基质在生物医学研究领域具有巨大的潜在应用。