原子光谱/元素质谱是元素分析的强有力手段, 其在生命分析领域的应用也越来越广泛。 在单细胞元素分析方面, 相关研究工作主要关注元素在单细胞中的分布和形态变化; 在元素标记策略分析领域, 利用原子光谱（atomic spectrometry, AS）和电感耦合等离子体质谱（inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, ICP-MS）实现对小分子、 核酸、 蛋白质等目标分析物的高灵敏检测是研究热点; 在金属药物分析领域, ICP-MS为研究金属药物在生物体中的摄入、 分布、 代谢和排泄等过程提供了便利, 也为进一步阐明药物作用机理以及金属药物的设计和改进提供了数据支持; 在生物元素成像领域, ICP-MS与激光剥蚀技术（laser ablation, LA）联用, 可以对生物样品进行原位分析和微区分析, 结合有机质谱实现元素相关生物过程的分子机制研究; 与相关分离方法联用, 原子光谱和元素质谱还可以对生物组织中元素进行形态分析, 研究其在相关过程中的生物转化过程。 本文从单细胞元素分析、 元素标签标记策略、 金属药物转运与代谢以及生物组织中元素分布分析等方面, 评述了原子光谱和ICP-MS在生命分析中的应用实例, 并对该领域的发展前景进行了展望。

Atomic spectrometry and elemental mass spectrometry are very powerful techniques for elemental analysis, which have been widely applied in bio-analytical chemistry. In single cell analysis field, research work focuses on element distribution and bioavailability in individual cells with the aid of inductively coupled plasma mass spatrometry (ICP-MS); In the field of elemental label strategy, high sensitive methods are explored for the measurement of small molecules, nuclear acids, proteins and other biological targets; For metal drug analysis, ICP-MS is applied for the investigation on uptake, distribution, metabolism and excretion of metal drugs in organisms, which provides important information for further biomedical research and metal drug design; Considering bio-imaging, laser ablation （LA） ICP-MS is employed for in-situ analysis and micro-analysis of biological samples, providing information for molecular mechanism of relevant biological process; elemental speciation analysis in plant/animal tissues is realized by combining atomic spectrometry or ICP-MS with separation techniques. In this paper, these applications are reviewed including single-cell elemental analysis, elemental label strategy, metal drugs transport and metabolism, and elemental distribution analysis in biological tissues. The development and the prospective of atomic spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in biological chemistry are discussed.