Microextraction Tech

Information about drug distribution after intake in a certain tissue is of relevance as it provides useful information for the development of novel medicines. Conventional homogenization methods are not applicable in this context as they provide a qualitative information about the drug present in the analyzed samples. However, data about the spatial distribution and the ability of the drug to cross the cellular barrier is usually missing. To overcome this drawback, Swales and coworkers have studied the drug distribution in brain tissue using liquid extraction surface analysis combined to mass spectrometry (LESA-MS). LESA-MS is a surface sampling technique that combines liquid extraction from the surface of tissue sections with mass spectrometry. The authors use mass spectrometric imaging (MSI) to build an image of xenobiotic and endogenous compound distribution to asses drug brain barrier penetration. LESA-MSI was useful to obtain the map distribution of poorly penetrative compoun...

The analysis of ancient documents, pictures, archeological pieces and related added-value samples is a challenging issue for any analytical chemist. The unique character of the samples and the priceless values of most of them require the sampling of a very small quantity to obtain as much information as possible. Undoubtedly, the direct analysis or the use of non destructive analytical techniques must be the first option for the researchers. But not the only one!! Our loved microextraction techniques could play a relevant role in this scientific field as they are able to maximize the amount of information obtained from a very low sample amount. Recently, The Analyst journal has published a research carried out by our colleagues from the University of North Texas dealing with the potential of direct analyte-probed nanoextraction (DAPNe) coupled to different instrumental techniques for the determination of the authenticity of documents (1). The ink used for writing the manuscript is...