A lipidomics demonstration of the importance of single cell analysis

Abstract

Typical lipidomics data are obtained from collective cell lysis encompassing the digestion of large groups of cells or tissues, leading to inaccuracies and averaging of sample data. Here we describe a novel approach of obtaining single cell information with results demonstrating the importance of single cell analysis. We report obtaining distinct heterogeneity of adipocytes in vitro using nanomanipulation-coupled nanoelectrospray mass spectrometry of living individual cells from the same culture plate.