Analytical Sciences

Cell Analysis on Microfluidics Combined with Mass Spectrometry

Wanling ZHANG, Qiang ZHANG, and Jin-Ming LIN

Department of Chemistry, Beijing Key Laboratory of Microanalytical Methods and Instrumentation, MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People’s Republic of China

Cell analysis is of great significance for the exploration of human diseases and health. However, there are not many techniques for high-throughput cell analysis in the simulated cell microenvironment. The high designability of the microfluidic chip enables multiple kinds of cells to be co-cultured on the chip, with other functions such as sample preprocessing and cell manipulation. Mass spectrometry (MS) can detect a large number of biomolecules without labelling. Therefore, the application of the microfluidic chip coupled with MS has represented a major branch of cell analysis over the past decades. Here, we concisely introduce various microfluidic devices coupled with MS used for cell analysis. The main functions of microfluidic devices are described first, followed by introductions of different interfaces with different types of MS. Then, their various applications in cell analysis are highlighted, with an emphasis on cell metabolism, drug screening, and signal transduction. Current limitations and prospective trends of microfluidics coupled with MS are discussed at the end.

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