| 摘要 |
Toward a living body fluid, i.e. an analyte solution in which substances contained vary with a lapse of time and which has an extremely high electrical conductivity, it is an object of the present invention to allow the ionization thereof to be performed effectively, thus making it possible to mass-analyze the analyte solution in a short while. In order to accomplish the above-described object, there is provided an ionization source in which the following process is executed: The analyte solution, i.e. a mixture solution with a physiological saline containing the living body substances, is introduced from a living body 5 into a capillary 9 without being separated. Then, gas is caused to pass through an orifice 10, which is located coaxially with the capillary 9 and into which a tip of the capillary 9 is inserted, at the sonic velocity or at a high velocity close thereto, thereby spraying and ionizing the analyte solution at the tip of the capillary 9. Moreover, there is provided an ion trap mass spectrometer (3DQMS) 12 for mass-analyzing the ions from the ionization source, thereby mass-analyzing the analyte solution at a time. As a result, it has become possible to perform a mass analysis of the living body substances, in particular, neurotransmitters in a state in which they really are in the living body 5, although, conventionally, it was impossible to perform such type of mass analysis. It has also become possible to perform a mass analysis in response to a change of the living body 5 while directly collecting a cerebral spinal fluid from the brain. |
