Mass Spectrometry Imaging of low Molecular Weight Compounds in Garlic (Allium sativum L.) with Gold Nanoparticle Enhanced Target

Introduction - Garlic (Allium sativum) is the subject of many studies due to its numerous beneficial properties. Although compounds of garlic have been studied by various analytical methods, their tissue distributions are still unclear. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) appears to be a very powerful tool for the identification of the localisation of compounds within a garlic clove. Objective - Visualisation of the spatial distribution of garlic low-molecular weight compounds with nanoparticle-based MSI. Methodology - Compounds occurring on the cross-section of sprouted garlic has been transferred to gold-nanoparticle enhanced target (AuNPET) by imprinting. The imprint was then subjected to MSI analysis. Results - The results suggest that low molecular weight compounds, such as amino acids, dipeptides, fatty acids, organosulphur and organoselenium compounds are distributed within the garlic clove in a characteristic manner. It can be connected with their biological functions and metabolic properties in the plant. Conclusion - New methodology for the visualisation of low molecular weight compounds allowed a correlation to be made between their spatial distribution within a sprouted garlic clove and their biological function. Copyright (c) 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.