Hydrazine-based derivatization reagents have been used to detect the presence of the carbonyl containing glucocorticoid fluticasone proprionate in rat lung tissue by MALDI-MSI. Such reagents also act as a matrix for analysis by MALDI-MS and have been termed "reactive matrices". Cryosections of rat lung tissue (12 μm), spotted with a range of concentrations of fluticasone proprionate, were derivatized in situ with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) and 4-dimethylamino-6-(4-methoxy-1-naphthyl)-1,3,5-triazine-2-hydrazine (DMNTH) by the use of an acoustic reagent spotter. It has been demonstrated that DMNTH gave superior results compared to DNPH and that analysis of samples immediately after application of DMNTH resulted in the detection of the protonated hydrazone derivative ([MD + H](+)) of fluticasone propionate at a concentration of 500 ng/μL. It has been further shown that a prolonged reaction time (~48 h) improves the detection limit of the protonated hydrazone derivative to 50 ng/μL and that improvements in sensitivity and limits of detection are obtained when a conventional MALDI matrix CHCA is employed in conjunction with the DNPH/DMNTH reactive matrix.
