Electrospray ionization and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry - Emerging technologies in biomedical sciences

Tremendous progress in biomedical sciences has been made possible in part b y recent advances in bioanalytical methods, in particular biological mass s pectrometry. Since the introduction of electrospray ionization mass spectro metry (ESI-MS) in 1984 and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) in 1988, the field of bioanalytical mass spectrome try has seen rapid growth. In concert with separation techniques such as ca pillary electrophoresis and high performance liquid chromatography, mass sp ectrometry allows characterization of a large array of small organic molecu les, peptides, proteins, oligonucleotides, and RNA fragments. Thus, substan tially more expedient and definitive determination of molecular weight is n ow possible by mass spectrometric analysis. In this commentary, general des criptions of ESI- and MALDI-MS are presented. Furthermore, several recent d evelopments and applications in addressing difficult biological problems ar e discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.