Single-cell Metabolomics Analysis by Microfluidics and Mass Spectrometry: Recent New Advances

Metabolomics at the single-cell level can analyze cellular metabolites, study the phenotypic variations in individual cells and reveal phenomena and mechanisms that cannot be observed by analyzing large number of cells. It also provides an efficient way to study the dynamically changing metabolites and intermediates in single living cells. Microfluidics enables high-throughput analysis of single cells without disturbing cell metabolism as much as possible. Mass spectrometry is a promising tool for single-cell metabolomics and its innovation provides rich information of metabolites for single-cell analysis. In this mini-review, the recent new advances of single-cell metabolomics based on microfluidics and mass spectrometry in last five years are reviewed and prospected.