Mass spectrometric determination of particular tissue states
AssigneeBruker Daltonik GmbH
InventorsSören-Oliver DEININGER, Martin SCHÜRENBERG
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Abstract
The invention relates to the identification and visualization of the spatial distribution of particular tissue states in histological tissue sections from mass spectrometric signals acquired with spatial resolution. The invention proposes a method by means of which regions of the tissue with similar mass spectra are found automatically, and it is further proposed that mass spectra of these regions are summed in order to improve the spectral quality to such an extent that known markers for tissue degenerations can be identified with increased certainty. Regions of similar mass spectra can be interconnected on a large scale, but can also be isolated from each other on a small scale.
Claims10
A method for the mass spectrometric identification of particular tissue states on a tissue surface of a prepared tissue section, comprising:
- acquiring spatially resolved mass spectra from the tissue surface,
- locating similar regions on the tissue surface by comparing the mass spectra acquired using mass signals contained therein,
- generating a sum spectrum from the mass spectra in the regions identified as being similar,
- performing a marker identification on the sum spectrum, where a marker or markers indicate particular tissue states, and
- characterizing all regions on the tissue surface on which the sum spectrum is based with the tissue state or the tissue states if the corresponding marker identification on the sum spectrum is successful.
A method of searching for particular tissue states in histological samples with the aid of mass spectra acquired with spatial resolution from thin tissue sections, and for the visualization of a spatial distribution of the tissue states, where the particular tissue states are indicated by known markers, the method comprising locating regions of the tissue sections representing different types of tissue and, for regions of the same tissue type, summing mass spectra from different pixel locations in those regions to produce a summed mass spectrum of sufficient quality to provide a definite identification of at least one of said known markers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.