Tissue expansion mass spectrometry imaging (TEMI) for high-spatial-resolution multiomics molecular mapping.

Abstract

High-spatial-resolution in situ mapping of biomolecules within tissue reveals critical insights into the complex molecular landscape and spatial organization of biological systems. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a powerful tool for spatially resolved molecular analysis of biological samples, with ongoing demand for improved spatial resolution. Tissue expansion combined with MSI (TEMI) is a recently developed approach that enables multiomics molecular mapping across various biological tissues with significantly improved spatial resolution. Unlike conventional methods that depend on instrument-based enhancements in spatial resolution, TEMI physically enlarges tissue samples via harsh-condition-free hydrogel expansion, achieving more than 3.5-fold increase in effective imaging resolution using standard MSI instrumentation. TEMI delivers single-cell spatial resolution in tissue samples and enables detection of biomolecular heterogeneity that remains uncharacterizable in unexpanded tissue using conventional MSI. Notably, TEMI supports high-spatial-resolution mapping of multiple biomolecular classes-including lipids, metabolites, N-glycans, peptides and proteins-within a single tissue sample. Here, we provide a detailed, step-by-step guide for TEMI, including hydrogel-based tissue expansion under mild conditions, cryosectioning of the expanded tissue-hydrogel sample, a comprehensive experimental workflow for multiomics TEMI on a single tissue section, data acquisition and visualization pipelines, as well as troubleshooting tips. Overall, we demonstrate that TEMI overcomes the long-standing spatial limitations of MSI without requiring hardware modifications, ensuring compatibility with existing MSI instruments and promoting broad accessibility and adoption within the research community.