TY - JOUR A1 - Mangarova, Dilyana B. A1 - Kaufmann, Jan Ole A1 - Brangsch, Julia A1 - Kader, Avan A1 - Möckel, Jana A1 - Heyl, Jennifer L. A1 - Verlemann, Christine A1 - Adams, Lisa C. A1 - Ludwig, Antje A1 - Reimann, Carolin A1 - Poller, Wolfram C. A1 - Niehaus, Peter A1 - Karst, Uwe A1 - Taupitz, Matthias A1 - Hamm, Bernd A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Makowski, Marcus R. T1 - ADAMTS4-Specific MR Peptide Probe for the Assessment of Atherosclerotic Plaque Burden in a Mouse Model N2 - Introduction Atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of multiple cardiovascular pathologies. The present-day clinical imaging modalities do not offer sufficient information on plaque composition or rupture risk. A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs 4 (ADAMTS4) is a strongly upregulated proteoglycan-cleaving enzyme that is specific to cardiovascular diseases, inter alia, atherosclerosis. Materials and Methods Male apolipoprotein E-deficient mice received a high-fat diet for 2 (n = 11) or 4 months (n = 11). Additionally, a group (n = 11) receiving pravastatin by drinking water for 4 months alongside the high-fat diet was examined. The control group (n = 10) consisted of C57BL/6J mice on standard chow. Molecular magnetic resonance imaging was performed prior to and after administration of the gadolinium (Gd)-based ADAMTS4-specific probe, followed by ex vivo analyses of the aortic arch, brachiocephalic arteries, and carotid arteries. A P value <0.05 was considered to indicate a statistically significant difference. Results With advancing atherosclerosis, a significant increase in the contrast-to-noise ratio was measured after intravenous application of the probe (mean precontrast = 2.25; mean postcontrast = 11.47, P < 0.001 in the 4-month group). The pravastatin group presented decreased ADAMTS4 expression. A strong correlation between ADAMTS4 content measured via immunofluorescence staining and an increase in the contrast-to-noise ratio was detected (R2 = 0.69). Microdissection analysis revealed that ADAMTS4 gene expression in the plaque area was significantly greater than that in the arterial wall of a control mouse (P < 0.001). Laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry confirmed strong colocalization of areas positive for ADAMTS4 and Gd. Conclusions Magnetic resonance imaging using an ADAMTS4-specific agent is a promising method for characterizing atherosclerotic plaques and could improve plaque assessment in the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis. N2 - Einleitung Atherosklerose ist die Ursache für zahlreiche Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen. Die derzeitigen klinischen Bildgebungsverfahren liefern keine ausreichenden Informationen über die Zusammensetzung von Plaques oder das Risiko einer Ruptur. A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase with Thrombospondin Motifs 4 (ADAMTS4) ist ein stark hochreguliertes Proteoglykan-spaltendes Enzym, das unter anderem bei Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen wie Atherosklerose spezifisch auftritt. Materialien und Methoden Männliche Apolipoprotein-E-defiziente Mäuse erhielten 2 (n = 11) oder 4 Monate lang (n = 11) eine fettreiche Ernährung. Zusätzlich wurde eine Gruppe (n = 11) untersucht, die 4 Monate lang neben der fettreichen Ernährung Pravastatin über das Trinkwasser erhielt. Die Kontrollgruppe (n = 10) bestand aus C57BL/6J-Mäusen, die mit Standardfutter ernährt wurden. Vor und nach der Verabreichung der gadolinium (Gd)-basierten ADAMTS4-spezifischen Sonde wurde eine molekulare Magnetresonanztomographie durchgeführt, gefolgt von Ex-vivo-Analysen des Aortenbogens, der Arteria brachiocephalica und der Arteria carotis. Ein P-Wert < 0,05 wurde als statistisch signifikanter Unterschied gewertet. Ergebnisse Mit fortschreitender Atherosklerose wurde nach intravenöser Anwendung der Sonde ein signifikanter Anstieg des Kontrast-Rausch-Verhältnisses gemessen (Mittelwert vor Kontrastmittelgabe = 2,25; Mittelwert nach Kontrastmittelgabe = 11,47, P < 0,001 in der 4-Monats-Gruppe). Die Pravastatin-Gruppe zeigte eine verminderte ADAMTS4-Expression. Es wurde eine starke Korrelation zwischen dem mittels Immunfluoreszenzfärbung gemessenen ADAMTS4-Gehalt und einem Anstieg des Kontrast-Rausch-Verhältnisses festgestellt (R2 = 0,69). Die Mikrodissektionsanalyse ergab, dass die ADAMTS4-Genexpression im Plaque-Bereich signifikant höher war als in der Arterienwand einer Kontrollmaus (P < 0,001). Laserablation-induktiv gekoppelte Plasma-Massenspektrometrie bestätigte eine starke Kolokalisierung von ADAMTS4- und Gd-positiven Bereichen. Schlussfolgerungen Die Magnetresonanztomographie mit einem ADAMTS4-spezifischen Kontrastmittel ist eine vielversprechende Methode zur Charakterisierung atherosklerotischer Plaques und könnte die Plaquebewertung in der Diagnose und Behandlung von Atherosklerose verbessern. KW - Peptide Aptamer KW - MRI Probe KW - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) KW - Peptide libraries KW - Laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry KW - ICP MS KW - Imaging PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-635832 DO - https://doi.org/10.1097/RLI.0000000000001152 SN - 1536-0210 VL - 60 IS - 8 SP - 499 EP - 507 PB - Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) CY - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA AN - OPUS4-63583 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Döring, Sarah A1 - Konthur, Zoltán A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Jaeger, Carsten A1 - Reinders, Yvonne T1 - Challenges and Insights in Absolute Quantification of Recombinant Therapeutic Antibodies by Mass Spectrometry: An Introductory Review N2 - This review describes mass spectrometry (MS)-based approaches for the absolute quantification of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), focusing on technical challenges in sample treatment and calibration. Therapeutic mAbs are crucial for treating cancer and inflammatory, infectious, and autoimmune diseases. We trace their development from hybridoma technology and the first murine mAbs in 1975 to today’s chimeric and fully human mAbs. With increasing commercial relevance, the absolute quantification of mAbs, traceable to an international standard system of units (SI units), has attracted attention from science, industry, and national metrology institutes (NMIs). Quantification of proteotypic peptides after enzymatic digestion using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) has emerged as the most viable strategy, though methods targeting intact mAbs are still being explored. We review peptide-based quantification, focusing on critical experimental steps like denaturation, reduction, alkylation, choice of digestion enzyme, and selection of signature peptides. Challenges in amino acid analysis (AAA) for quantifying pure mAbs and peptide calibrators, along with software tools for targeted MS data analysis, are also discussed. Short explanations within each chapter provide newcomers with an overview of the field’s challenges. We conclude that, despite recent progress, further efforts are needed to overcome the many technical hurdles along the quantification workflow and discuss the prospects of developing standardized protocols and certified reference materials (CRMs) for this goal. We also suggest future applications of newer technologies for absolute mAb quantification. KW - Monoclonal antibody KW - Therapeutic antibodies KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Liquid chromatography KW - Absolute quantification KW - Metrology KW - Traceability KW - Certified reference material PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-623707 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/antib14010003 SN - 2073-4468 VL - 14 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 26 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz AN - OPUS4-62370 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bosc-Bierne, Gaby A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Investigation of impurities in peptide pools T1 - Untersuchung von Verunreinigungen in Peptidpools N2 - Peptide pools are important research tools in different biomedical fields. They consist of a complex mixture of defined peptides, which places high demands on the production and quality control of these products. Previously it has been shown that the combination of UHPLC with high-resolution mass-spectrometry (HRMS) is a fast and powerful method to confirm the relative concentration and the structural identity of all peptides expected to be in the pool. In this work, the additional information contained in the UV chromatograms and mass spectra is used to search for impurities due to synthesis by-products and degradation during storage and transportation and to identify possible analytical artifacts. It was shown that most impurities are only present in trace amounts and can be considered uncritical for most applications. The most frequent and perhaps unexpected impurities were homo- and heterodimers caused by the free cysteines contained in these peptide pools. Furthermore, pyroglutamate and aspartimide formation, deamidation, methionine oxidation, and amino acid deletions could be found. This list is not intended to be comprehensive, but rather a brief guide to quickly identify impurities and, in the long term, to suggest possible changes in the composition of the peptide pools to avoid such impurities by design or by special precautions. N2 - Peptidpools sind wichtige Forschungsinstrumente in verschiedenen biomedizinischen Bereichen. Sie bestehen aus einer komplexen Mischung definierter Peptide, was hohe Anforderungen an die Herstellung und Qualitätskontrolle dieser Produkte stellt. In der Vergangenheit wurde gezeigt, dass die Kombination von UHPLC mit hochauflösender Massenspektrometrie (HRMS) eine schnelle und leistungsfähige Methode zur Bestätigung der relativen Konzentration und der strukturellen Identität aller Peptide ist, die in dem Pool erwartet werden. In dieser Arbeit werden die zusätzlichen Informationen, die in den UV-Chromatogrammen und Massenspektren enthalten sind, genutzt, um nach Verunreinigungen zu suchen, die auf Nebenprodukte der Synthese und den Abbau während der Lagerung und des Transports zurückzuführen sind, und um mögliche analytische Artefakte zu identifizieren. Es hat sich gezeigt, dass die meisten Verunreinigungen nur in Spuren vorhanden sind und für die meisten Anwendungen als unkritisch angesehen werden können. Die häufigsten und vielleicht unerwartetsten Verunreinigungen waren Homo- und Heterodimere, die durch die in diesen Peptidpools enthaltenen freien Cysteine verursacht werden. Außerdem wurden Pyroglutamat- und Aspartimidbildung, Deamidierung, Methioninoxidation und Aminosäuredeletionen festgestellt. Diese Liste erhebt keinen Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit, sondern ist eher ein kurzer Leitfaden, um Verunreinigungen schnell zu identifizieren und langfristig mögliche Änderungen in der Zusammensetzung der Peptidpools vorzuschlagen, um solche Verunreinigungen durch Design oder besondere Vorsichtsmaßnahmen zu vermeiden. KW - Synthetic peptides KW - Degradation KW - Synthetic artifacts KW - Peptide losses KW - Stability of peptides KW - Disulfide dimers KW - Cysteine dimers KW - Isomers KW - Cysteine alkylation PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-626987 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/separations12020036 SN - 2297-8739 VL - 12 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - MDPI AG CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-62698 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Juds, Carmen A1 - Schmidt, J. A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Lange, Thorid A1 - Beck, Uwe A1 - Conrad, T. A1 - Boerner, H. G. T1 - Combining phage display and next-generation sequencing for materials sciences: A case study on probing polypropylene surfaces N2 - Phage display biopanning with Illumina next-generation sequencing (NGS) is applied to reveal insights into peptide-based adhesion domains for polypropylene (PP). One biopanning round followed by NGS selects robust PP-binding peptides that are not evident by Sanger sequencing. NGS provides a significant statistical base that enables motif analysis, statistics on positional residue depletion/enrichment, and data analysis to suppress false-positive sequences from amplification bias. The selected sequences are employed as water-based primers for PP-metal adhesion to condition PP surfaces and increase adhesive strength by 100% relative to nonprimed PP. KW - Polymers KW - Polypropylene KW - Glue KW - Plastics KW - Surface Activation KW - Primer KW - Peptide Library KW - Epoxy KW - Solid-binding Peptides KW - Functionalization KW - Polymer-binding Peptides KW - Adhesion KW - Material-binding Peptides KW - Adhesives PY - 2020 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c03482 SN - 0002-7863 SN - 1520-5126 VL - 142 IS - 24 SP - 10624 EP - 10628 PB - ACS CY - Washington, DC, USA AN - OPUS4-51123 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liu, F. A1 - Lakey, P. S. J. A1 - Berkemeier, T. A1 - Tong, H. A1 - Kunert, A. T. A1 - Meusel, H. A1 - Cheng, Y. A1 - Su, H. A1 - Fröhlich-Nowoisky, J. A1 - Lai, S. A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Shiraiwa, M. A1 - Pöschl, U. A1 - Kampf, C. J. T1 - Atmospheric protein chemistry influenced by anthropogenic air pollutants: nitration and oligomerization upon exposure to ozone and nitrogen dioxide N2 - The allergenic potential of airborne proteins may be enhanced via post-translational modification induced by air pollutants like ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The molecular mechanisms and kinetics of the chemical modifications that enhance the allergenicity of proteins, however, are still not fully understood. Here, protein tyrosine nitration and oligomerization upon simultaneous exposure of O3 and NO2 were studied in coated-wall flow-tube and bulk solution experiments under varying atmospherically relevant conditions (5–200 ppb O3, 5–200 ppb NO2, 45–96% RH), using bovine serum albumin as a model protein. Generally, more tyrosine residues were found to react via the nitration pathway than via the oligomerization pathway. Depending on reaction conditions, oligomer mass fractions and nitration degrees were in the ranges of 2.5–25% and 0.5–7%, respectively. The experimental results were well reproduced by the kinetic multilayer model of aerosol surface and bulk chemistry (KM-SUB). The extent of nitration and oligomerization strongly depends on relative humidity (RH) due to moisture-induced phase transition of proteins, highlighting the importance of cloud processing conditions for accelerated protein chemistry. Dimeric and nitrated species were major products in the liquid phase, while protein oligomerization was observed to a greater extent for the solid and semi-solid phase states of proteins. Our results show that the rate of both processes was sensitive towards ambient ozone concentration but rather insensitive towards different NO2 levels. An increase of tropospheric ozone concentrations in the Anthropocene may thus promote pro-allergic protein modifications and contribute to the observed increase of allergies over the past decades. KW - Oxidation KW - Nitration KW - Cross-linking KW - Ozone KW - Nitrogen dioxide KW - Dimer KW - Air pollution KW - Diesel KW - Aeroallergens KW - Pollen KW - Tyrosine KW - Nitrotyrosine KW - BSA KW - Albumin PY - 2017 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-418482 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c7fd00005g SN - 1359-6640 VL - 200 SP - 413 EP - 427 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-41848 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liu, F. A1 - Lai, S. A1 - Tong, H. A1 - Lakey, P. S. J. A1 - Shiraiwa, M. A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Pöschl, U. A1 - Kampf, C. J. T1 - Release of free amino acids upon oxidation of peptides and proteins by hydroxyl radicals N2 - Hydroxyl radical-induced oxidation of proteins and peptides can lead to the cleavage of the peptide, leading to a release of fragments. Here, we used high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) and pre-column online ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA) derivatization-based amino acid analysis by HPLC with diode array detection and fluorescence detection to identify and quantify free amino acids released upon oxidation of proteins and peptides by hydroxyl radicals. Bovine serum albumin (BSA), ovalbumin (OVA) as model proteins, and synthetic tripeptides (comprised of varying compositions of the amino acids Gly, Ala, Ser, and Met) were used for reactions with hydroxyl radicals, which were generated by the Fenton reaction of iron ions and hydrogen peroxide. The molar yields of free glycine, aspartic acid, asparagine, and alanine per peptide or protein varied between 4 and 55%. For protein oxidation reactions, the molar yields of Gly (∼32-55% for BSA, ∼10-21% for OVA) were substantially higher than those for the other identified amino acids (∼5-12% for BSA, ∼4-6% for OVA). Upon oxidation of tripeptides with Gly in C-terminal, mid-chain, or N-terminal positions, Gly was preferentially released when it was located at the C-terminal site. Overall, we observe evidence for a site-selective formation of free amino acids in the OH radical-induced oxidation of peptides and proteins, which may be due to a reaction pathway involving nitrogen-centered radicals. KW - Peptides KW - Proteins KW - Oxidation KW - Hydroxyl radicals KW - LC-MS KW - Amino acid analysis KW - Bovine serum albumin KW - Ovalbumin KW - Tripeptides KW - Ortho-Phthalaldehyde KW - AAA KW - Degradation KW - Fragmentation KW - Mechanism PY - 2017 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-398714 UR - http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00216-017-0188-y DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0188-y SN - 1618-2650 SN - 1618-2642 VL - 409 IS - 9 SP - 2411 EP - 2420 PB - Springer CY - Heidelberg AN - OPUS4-39871 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lemke, Nora A1 - El-Khatib, Ahmed H. A1 - Tchipilov, Teodor A1 - Jakubowski, N. A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Vogl, Jochen T1 - Procedure providing SI‑traceable results for the calibration of protein standards by sulfur determination and its application on tau N2 - Quantitative proteomics is a growing research area and one of the most important tools in the life sciences. Well-characterized and quantified protein standards are needed to achieve accurate and reliable results. However, only a limited number of sufficiently characterized protein standards are currently available. To fill this gap, a method for traceable protein quantification using sulfur isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was developed in this study. Gel filtration and membrane filtration were tested for the separation of non-protein-bound sulfur in the protein solution. Membrane filtration demonstrated a better performance due to the lower workload and the very low sulfur blanks of 11 ng, making it well suited for high-purity proteins such as NIST SRM 927, a bovine serum albumin (BSA). The method development was accomplished with NIST SRM 927e and a commercial avidin. The quantified mass fraction of NIST SRM 927e agreed very well with the certified value and showed similar uncertainties (3.6%) as established methods while requiring less sample preparation and no species-specific standards. Finally, the developed procedure was applied to the tau protein, which is a biomarker for a group of neurodegenerative diseases denoted “tauopathies” including, e.g., Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. For the absolute quantification of tau in the brain of transgenic mice overexpressing human tau, a well-defined calibration standard was needed. Therefore, a pure tau solution was quantified, yielding a protein mass fraction of (0.328 ± 0.036) g/kg, which was confirmed by amino acid analysis. KW - Iinductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry KW - Isotope dilution KW - Quantitative protein analysis KW - Sulfur KW - SI traceability PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-545200 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-03974-z VL - 414 SP - 4441 EP - 4455 PB - Springer Verlag AN - OPUS4-54520 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Quality issues of research antibodies N2 - According to several recent studies, an unexpectedly high number of landmark papers seem to be not reproducible by Independent laboratories. Nontherapeutic antibodies used for research, diagnostic, food analytical, environmental, and other purposes play a significant role in this matter. Although some papers have been published offering suggestions to improve the situation, they do not seem to be comprehensive enough to cover the full complexity of this issue. In addition, no obvious improvements could be noticed in the field as yet. This article tries to consolidate the remarkable variety of conclusions and suggested activities into a more coherent conception. It is concluded that funding agencies and journal publishers need to take first and immediate measures to resolve these problems and lead the way to a more sustainable way of bioanalytical research, on which all can rely with confidence. KW - reproducibility crisis KW - irreproducibility KW - replication KW - paper retraction KW - peer reviewimmunochemistry KW - immunoassay KW - ligand binding assay KW - monoclonal antibody KW - quality control KW - cross-reactivity KW - non-specific binding KW - selectivity PY - 2016 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-356254 DO - https://doi.org/10.4137/ACI.S31614 SN - 1177-3901 VL - 11 SP - 21 EP - 27 PB - Libertas Academica CY - Auckland, New Zealand AN - OPUS4-35625 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Waiblinger, H. U. A1 - Bartsch, D. A1 - Brockmeyer, J. A1 - Bruenen-Nieweler, C. A1 - Busch, U. A1 - Haase, I. A1 - Hahn, A. A1 - Haarmann, M. A1 - Hauser, W. A1 - Huber, I. A1 - Jany, K. D. A1 - Kirmse, N. A1 - Lindeke, S. A1 - Neumann, K. A1 - Naumann, H. A1 - Paschke, A. A1 - Pietsch, K. A1 - Pöpping, B. A1 - Reiting, R. A1 - Schroeder, U. A1 - Schwägele, F. A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Zagon, J. T1 - Methods of differentiating animal species in foods – Status quo N2 - Work on standardising methods in the field of animal species differentiation has been intensified in Germany in recent years, not least due to the horsemeat scandal in 2013. Even though there are now hardly ever any positive findings any more in examinations to detect horse adulterations in foods such as lasagne, animal species differentiation altogether ranks high in detecting adulteration of foods. This article therefore summarises the current status of analytical techniques used in Germany with standardisation at German level. It has been established by the working group “Biochemical and Molecular Biological Analytics” of the Lebensmittelchemische Gesellschaft (Food Chemistry Society within the German Chemical Society) with support of experts in the working group “Molecular biology techniques for differentiating plant and animal species” (§ 64 of the German Food and Feed Code – LFGB) and the “Immunology and molecular biology” task force of the food hygiene and Food of animal origin working group (ALTS), both from Germany. KW - Animal species differentiation KW - Fish species KW - PCR KW - Standardisation KW - DNA chip KW - Multiplex methods KW - Digital PCR KW - ELISA methods KW - Immunoassays KW - LC-MS/MS KW - Reference materials KW - Microarrays KW - LAMP KW - Interlaboratory studies PY - 2017 SN - 0179-2415 VL - 97 IS - 1 SP - 50 EP - 55 PB - Deutscher Fachverlag GmbH CY - Frankfurt AN - OPUS4-39264 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bierstedt, Andreas A1 - You, Yi A1 - van Wasen, Sebastian A1 - Bosc-Bierne, Gaby A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Riedel, Jens T1 - Laser-Induced Microplasma as an Ambient Ionization Approach for the Mass-Spectrometric Analysis of Liquid Samples N2 - An airborne high repetition rate laser-induced plasma was applied as a versatile ambient ionization source for mass-spectrometric determinations of polar and nonpolar analytes in solution. The laser plasma was sustained between a home-built pneumatic nebulizer and the inlet capillary of an Orbitrap mass spectrometer. To maintain stable conditions in the droplet-rich spray environment, the plasma was directly fed by the fundamental output (λ = 1064 nm) of a current state-of-the-art diode-pumped solid-state laser. Ionization by the laser-driven plasma resulted in signals of intact analyte ions of several chemical categories. The analyte ions were found to be fully desolvated since no further increase in ion signal was observed upon heating of the inlet capillary. Due to the electroneutrality of the plasma, both positive and negative analyte ions could be formed simultaneously without altering the operational parameters of the ion source. While, typically, polar analytes with pronounced gas phase basicities worked best, nonpolar and amphoteric compounds were also detected. The latter were detected with lower ion signals and were prone to a certain degree of fragmentation induced during the ionization process. All the described attests the laser-induced microplasma by a good performance in terms of stability, robustness, sensitivity, and general applicability as a self-contained ion source for the liquid sample introduction. KW - Laser KW - Laser-induced plasma KW - Ambient ionization KW - Mass Spectrometry PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.9b00329 SN - 0003-2700 VL - 91 IS - 9 SP - 5922 EP - 5928 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC, USA AN - OPUS4-47939 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -