Fig. 3
Optical images and mass spectrometric (MS) images of a mouse hippocampal tissue slice. The upper two optical images indicate differential interference contrast (DIC) images of a mouse hippocampal tissue slice. A clear distinction among sub-regions, such as cornu ammonis 1 (CA1), cornu ammonis 3 (CA3), dentate gyrus (DG), and subiculum (SB), could be observed. Before: before the MS analysis (the sample preparation was done). After: after MS analysis. Mass spectra data were achieved from 129,900 different points. Therefore, we could reconstruct MS data with spatial information and finally completed MS imaging. (MAG stands for monoacylglycerol in ion images.) Ion images were obtained from live hippocampal tissues of an adult mouse. Ion images were generated with 433 × 300 pixels covering an area of 1800 × 1500 µm, and the corresponding x-axial and y-axial pixel sizes were 4.2 and 5 µm, respectively. These ion images had x-axial and y-axial lateral resolutions of 5.1 and 5 µm, respectively (Fig. 5). Scale bars, 500 μm
