Preface
Metabolomics, as the closest omics to phenotype in systems biology, has grown in popularity in recent years in the field of life science.
Because of the wide range of metabolites with different properties and concentrations, such as amino acids, sugars, organic acids, alkaloids, lipids, and steroids, as well as the complexity of biological matrices (e.g. plasma, urine), the requirements for detection technology are more stringent, which limits the early study of metabolites to some extent.The rapid advancement of modern mass spectrometry and chromatography techniques has resulted in the rapid advancement of metabolomics research and its widespread application in fields such as healthcare, agricultural breeding, food safety, environmental monitoring, and drug testing.
Key words: mass spectrometry, chromatography, development.
Centennial development history
The development of mass spectrometry is a story of mankind's struggle to reach out to the unknown. Research into mass spectrometry can be traced back to the 18th century. Chemists and physicists were determined to discover the nature and laws of matter, and a series of discoveries continued to reveal the true nature of the microscopic world, using a variety of inventions to obtain the tools to understand the unknown. Mass spectrometry was conceived at this time. In 1886 the German E. Goldstein discovered the canal ray. Subsequent work by W. Wien and J. J. Thomson demonstrated that canal rays consisted mainly of positively charged gas atoms (i.e. cations) in discharge tubes, which further led to the development of mass spectrometry. Thomson (who won the 1906 Nobel Prize for the discovery of the electron) studied the discovery of atoms and isotopes and is the man who built the first mass spectrometer and is known as the father of mass spectrometry. Francis Aston (F. Aston) invented the prototype of the present mass spectrometer in 1929 and became the first scientist to prove the existence of stable isotopes. At the same time, chromatographic techniques for the separation of substances have continued to develop and advance. Scientists pioneered the use of chromatography in conjunction with mass spectrometry to enable not only the characterization of components in mixtures, but also their quantification, greatly increasing the sensitivity, accuracy and range of detection. The world's first gas chromatograph (GC-MS) and the first liquid chromatograph (LC-MS) were introduced in 1950 and 1973 respectively. Since then, chromatography and mass spectrometry have continued to contribute to the scientific enterprise.
Basic principle of mass spectrometry
Modern mass spectrometers consist mainly of an ion source, a mass separators, a detector and a data acquisition system (computer). The sample is separated at the front end (or injected directly), and then enters the ion source where it is ionized and, after a magnetic or electric field, charged particles with different mass-to-charge ratios are separated and detected.
ion source
There are various types of ion sources used in mass spectrometry to suit different properties of compounds and different applications, but the most common at this stage are electron ionization ion sources (EI), which are commonly used in gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and electrospray ionization ion sources (ESI), which are commonly used in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The differences in the advantages between the two are detailed in the following table.
Ion analyzer
Mass separators are used to separate ions according to their mass-to-charge ratio and usually require operation in a high vacuum environment. The motion of ions in a mass separators mainly follows the Lorentz force law and Newton's second law, which is the principle basis for the operation of the detector. Commonly used mass separators at this stage include Quadrupole, Ion trap, Time of Flight (ToF), Orbitrap and Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FT-ICR).
Ion detector
After separation by a mass separator, the ions are fed into an ion detector for detection. There are various types of ion detectors, at this stage electron multipliers and microchannel plate detectors are the most common, while FTMS and Orbitrap detect the mirror phase currents generated by the oscillatory motion of ions.
Conclusion
Mass spectrometry has been in continuous development for over 100 years since its inception. Until today, a variety of types of mass spectrometers have been derived. Mass spectrometry based on different detection and analysis principles has given the opportunity to understand more complex substances and to detect complex biological matrices more easily, making mass spectrometry an important tool in the emerging research of metabolomics techniques. Continued improvements in mass spectrometry are bound to advance the life sciences more rapidly, leading to more scientific discoveries and achievements.
About Metanotitia
Relying on modern advanced high-resolution and high-precision mass spectrometry technology, Metanotitia has established a metabolomics technology research platform, focusing on obtaining high-quality metabolomics data and promoting the wide application of metabolomics technology in medical and health, agriculture and food, certification and identification and other fields.
Advantage of Metanotitia
With a high-resolution mass spectrometry detection platform for LC-Orbitrap-MS and GC-TOF-MS and a world-class database of metabolite standards, we can identify metabolites in samples faster, more accurately and more comprehensively. Our proprietary, integrated algorithms for analysing different QC data maximise sample biology, reduce detection noise and enable the detection of >5000 highly comparable metabolic profiles from a single sample.
