Fig. 1: Spatial multiomics analysis reveals hyperglycosylation in human AD brains.
From: Hyperglycosylation is a metabolic driver of Alzheimer’s disease
a, A schematic overview of the multiplexed MSI workflow utilized for integrated spatial metabolomics, lipidomics and glycomics from human brain tissue sections. Representative images for metabolite (UMP), lipid (PA(18:0/22:6)) and glycan (m/z 1,485) distributions in AD and normal control brains are shown. b, A heat map illustrating the differential abundance of glycan species identified by spatial glycomics analysis, comparing grey and white matter regions from control (ctrl; normal) and AD brain specimens (n = 3, each). Hierarchical clustering is performed on glycan species only not on samples. c, Spatial glycomics visualization and quantification of representative N-glycan species (1,688 m/z and 1,419 m/z) in grey matter regions. The violin plots show significantly increased abundance of these glycans in AD relative to normal controls. Statistical analysis was performed using two-tailed t-tests (n > 2,000 pixels per group); exact P values are indicated. d, Spatial metabolomics analysis in grey matter regions reveals a significant reduction in key glycan precursors, acetylglucosamine and glucosamine-6-phosphate, in AD compared with control samples. Violin plots present relative abundances; statistical significance assessed by two-tailed t-tests (n > 2,000 pixels per group); exact P values are indicated. Panel a created in BioRender. Sun, R. https://biorender.com/0c7yclk (2026).
