Applications of mass spectrometry imaging in the environmental sciences

Over the last five years, mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has made it possible to extract spatially relevant information from numerous types of sample mediums including biofilms, biota, and environmental solids. Newer approaches to MSI including desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (MS) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma MS have been adapted to imaging, enabling less sample preparation than previous ionization methods and drastically improving the ability to analyze environmental samples. MSI has broadened its scope to accommodate for metabolomic and toxicologic data to be collected in qualitative and quantitative formats. This review dissects numerous MS techniques and newly designed methods for analyzing environmental samples to further apply MS imaging to more diverse environmental sample sets.