1 research outputs found
Medical Swab Analysis Using Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry: A Noninvasive Approach for Mucosal Diagnostics
Medical
swabs are routinely used worldwide to sample human mucosa
for microbiological screening with culture methods. These are usually
time-consuming and have a narrow focus on screening for particular
microorganism species. As an alternative, direct mass spectrometric
profiling of the mucosal metabolome provides a broader window into
the mucosal ecosystem. We present for the first time a minimal effort/minimal-disruption
technique for augmenting the information obtained from clinical swab
analysis with mucosal metabolome profiling using desorption electrospray
ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) analysis. Ionization of mucosal
biomass occurs directly from a standard rayon swab mounted on a rotating
device and analyzed by DESI MS using an optimized protocol considering
swab–inlet geometry, tip–sample angles and distances,
rotation speeds, and reproducibility. Multivariate modeling of mass
spectral fingerprints obtained in this way readily discriminate between
different mucosal surfaces and display the ability to characterize
biochemical alterations induced by pregnancy and bacterial vaginosis
(BV). The method was also applied directly to bacterial biomass to
confirm the ability to detect intact bacterial species from a swab.
These results highlight the potential of direct swab analysis by DESI-MS
for a wide range of clinical applications including rapid mucosal
diagnostics for microbiology, immune responses, and biochemistry