Combining vibrational and fluorescence microscopies with mass spectrometry imaging for visualization of drug delivery

Recent advances in label-free chemical imaging approaches have yielded new methods for measuring drug distribution in biological tissues. Techniques include vibrational spectroscopies in addition to a range of powerful mass spectrometry imaging methods. These techniques offer complementary information, with different strengths and limitations. By combining datasets from several of these techniques using image registration, powerful visualization of cells and tissues can be achieved, enabling high chemical specificity and sensitivity with sub-micron spatial resolution. Here we present several correlative imaging examples that combine vibrational spectroscopic with mass spectrometric imaging, in addition to single and multiphoton fluorescence. This multimodal approach offers optimal visualization of biological structure, in addition to the measured drug distribution.