Mass spectrometry imaging on porous silicon: investigating the distribution of bioactives in marine mollusc tissues

Desorption/ionization on porous silicon-mass spectrometry (DIOS-MS) is an attractive alternative to conventional matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) for the analysis of low molecular weight compounds. Porous silicon (pSi) chips are also suitable as support for mass spectrometry imaging (MSI). Here, we report an implementation of DIOS-MSI using the biosynthetic organs of a marine mollusc for proof of principle. The tissue section is stamped onto a fluorocarbon-functionalized pSi chip, which extracts and traps small hydrophobic molecules from the tissue under retention of their relative spatial distribution. The section is subsequently removed and the chip is imaged without any remaining tissue. We apply this novel tissue contact printing approach to investigate the distribution of biologically active brominated precursors to Tyrian purple in the hypobranchial gland of the marine mollusc, Dicathais orbita, using DIOS–MSI. The tissue contact printing is also compatible with other types of desorption/ionization surfaces, such as nanoassisted laser desorption/ionization (NALDI) targets.