微流控螺旋芯片-质谱联用系统用于单细胞代谢组学分析

Coupling Spiral Microfluidic Chip and Mass Spectrometry for Single-Cell Metabolomics Analysis

  • 摘要: 为揭示细胞间的代谢异质性,更精准地理解生物过程和疾病机制,本研究构建了一种高通量、无标记、高灵敏度的微流控螺旋芯片-质谱联用平台(μCyESI-MS),用于单细胞水平的代谢组学分析。该平台采用螺旋微流控通道实现细胞单分散聚焦排列,结合鞘液辅助的在线裂解与提取,实现了代谢物的即时释放与高分辨质谱检测,检测通量可达约30 cells/min。利用μCyESI-MS平台对3种典型人癌细胞系(HeLa、HepG2和MCF-7)进行单细胞代谢谱采集,检测并初步鉴定了氨基酸、小分子脂质、核苷酸、糖脂及磷脂等多类代谢物。结果显示,脂质类代谢物在3种细胞类型间存在显著表达差异,特别是磷脂酰胆碱(PC)和鞘磷脂(SM)等结构脂质在细胞类型识别中具有良好的区分能力。该研究表明,μCyESI-MS平台在单细胞层面对复杂代谢特征的高通量检测和异质性解析具有应用潜力。

     

    Abstract: Single-cell metabolomics has emerged as a powerful tool to decipher cellular heterogeneity and uncover hidden biological processes at the individual cell level. However, achieving high-throughput and sensitive detection of metabolites from single cells remains a significant technical challenge. In this study, an integrated microfluidic chip-mass spectrometry platform (μCyESI-MS) was developed that enables label-free, real-time, and high-throughput metabolic profiling of single cells. The μCyESI-MS system utilizes a spiral microfluidic chip fabricated from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), featuring two inlets and one outlet for cell introduction, sheath fluid injection, and analyte collection, respectively. The 10-loop spiral channel efficiently aligns and focuses cells into a single-cell stream. Each cell is lysed on-chip by the sheath fluid, and the released intracellular metabolites are directly transferred into an electrospray ionization mass spectrometer (ESI-MS) for immediate analysis. This approach achieves a throughput of approximately 30 cells per minute, with minimal signal overlap and excellent detection sensitivity. This platform was applied to profile the metabolic fingerprints of three widely used human cancer cell lines, including HeLa, HepG2, and MCF-7. By matching accurate mass values with metabolite databases, a variety of metabolites were detected and identified, including tyrosine, carnitine, phosphocholine, glycerophosphocholine, acylcarnitine, glutathione, monoglyceride MG16, long-chain acylcarnitine, and lysophosphatidylcholine (LysoPC 16:0). Lipids, especially phosphatidylcholines (PCs) and sphingomyelins (SMs), are important components of the cell membrane and exhibit high ionization efficiency under positive ion mode. As a result, they are more readily detected by mass spectrometry, showing strong and specific signal responses. Dimensionality reduction using t-SNE revealed that the three cancer cell types could not be clearly separated in the small-molecule metabolite range (m/z 300-650), whereas the lipid-rich region (m/z 650-900) exhibited significant discriminatory power for cell-type classification. Ten representative lipid molecules with significant differences were selected, including PCs plasmalogen phosphatidylcholines (PC Ps), and SMs. Their relative abundances in HeLa, HepG2, and MCF-7 cells were compared, and their potential as biomarkers for cancer cell typing was evaluated. This study presents a robust and scalable platform for high-throughput single-cell metabolomics analysis. The μCyESI-MS system integrates precise microfluidic cell handling with sensitive MS detection, offering new opportunities for exploring metabolic heterogeneity, discovering biomarkers, and improving our understanding of disease mechanisms at the single-cell level.

     

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