[
International Worm Meeting,
2017]
Imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) is a two-dimensional mass spectrometry to visualize the spatial distribution of biomolecules, which does not need either separation or purification of target molecules. The free-living soil nematode C. elegans is a common model organism, extensively used in life science research. Though, various investigations have been performed for metabolomic profiling of worms, the information of a single worm has been lost by? the conventional mass spectrometry (MS) techniques. Thus, the development of a label-free, non-targeted MS technique for molecular mapping in C. elegans has been required. We have previously performed MALDI imaging of C. elegans. However, the resolution was not enough to analyze cellular or subcellular level of biomoleculer distribution. Thus, we next tried the application of TOF-SIMS (Time-of-Flight Secondary Mass Spectrometry) system for C. elegans, which enables us to obtain subcellular distribution of metabolites. By comparison of several sample preparation methods, the frozen sections of C. elegans fixed by paraformaldehyde (PFA) were suitable for TOF-SIMS analysis. By sputtering of Ar gas cluster ion beam (Ar-GCIB), the sensitivity to fatty acids (e.g. stearic acid (SA), oleic acid (OA), and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)) was significantly enhanced, and high-resolution images of biomolecules were acquired. Further modification to prepare C. elegans samples for TOF-SIMS imaging is in progress. This is promising to obtain the cellular and subcellular distributions of the various biomolecules easily and efficiently.