Abstract

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) encompasses a suite of technologies that enable, label-free analysis of endogenous and exogenous compounds directly from the surface of tissue sections. Within pharmaceutical R&D the techniques have primarily been applied to measuring and monitoring the abundance and distribution of drugs and their metabolites. However, one of the real powers of the technology is that it can be used to explore changes in the endogenous metabolome/lipidome/proteome. This makes MSI a powerful complementary tool to traditional histopathology. This presentation will describe how the technique is used within pharmaceutical R&D. Case studies will outline respiratory and oncology supporting applications where projects require new insights into compound distribution. Development of inhaled drug treatments of respiratory disease requires the optimization of delivery and retention in certain lung substructures to maximize the localized effect. In further case studies the multimodal imaging capability of MSI will exemplify the power of combining established imaging and pathology methods with the MSI to tackle molecular toxicity in modern drug discovery.