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REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1449639
This article is part of the Research Topic Multi-omics Technology: Revealing the Pathogenesis of Diseases and the Mechanism of Drug Efficacy of Major Diseases such as Nutritional Metabolism Disorders and Mental Disorders View all 9 articles

Spatial metabolomics in mental disorders and traditional Chinese medicine: a review

Provisionally accepted
Chaofang Lei Chaofang Lei 1Jia-Xu Chen Jia-Xu Chen 2ZHIGANG CHEN ZHIGANG CHEN 3Xudong Chen Xudong Chen 4Xukun Tang Xukun Tang 1Xiongxing Sun Xiongxing Sun 1Jun Deng Jun Deng 1Shiliang Wang Shiliang Wang 1Junlin Jiang Junlin Jiang 1Le Xie Le Xie 1*Dahua Wu Dahua Wu 1*
  • 1 Hunan Provincial Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Changsha, Anhui Province, China
  • 2 School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China
  • 3 Dongfang Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, Beijing, China
  • 4 Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Spatial metabolomics is an emerging technology that integrates mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) with metabolomics, offering a novel visual perspective for traditional metabolomics analysis. This technology enables in-depth analysis in three dimensions: qualitative, quantitative, and localization of metabolites. Spatial metabolomics precisely reflects the characteristics of metabolic network changes in metabolites within entire tissues or specific micro-regions. It provides a detailed understanding of the pharmacodynamic material basis and mechanisms of action.These capabilities suggest that spatial metabolomics can offer significant technical support for studying the complex pathophysiology of mental disorders. Although the mechanisms underlying mental disorders have been reviewed multiple times, this paper provides a comprehensive comparison between traditional metabolomics and spatial metabolomics. It also summarizes the latest progress and challenges of applying spatial metabolomics to the study of mental disorders and traditional Chinese medicine.

    Keywords: Mental Disorders, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Spatial metabolomics, Mass spectrometry imaging, DESI-MSI, MALDI-MSI, SIMS

    Received: 15 Jun 2024; Accepted: 15 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Lei, Chen, CHEN, Chen, Tang, Sun, Deng, Wang, Jiang, Xie and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Le Xie, Hunan Provincial Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Changsha, Anhui Province, China
    Dahua Wu, Hunan Provincial Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Changsha, Anhui Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.