were rehydrated for 15 min using 20 μL of 1 μg/mL trypsin
(in 100 mM ammonium bicarbonate) and then placed over the tissue region
of interest (brain thalamic region) onto the whole tissue surface
guided by the histological features on corresponding serial H&E
stained tissue section. The tissue sections were incubated in a microwave
oven (1.65 kW) for 2 min set at 10% of the power, to accelerate protein
digestion. Each hydrogel disc was removed from the tissue section
and placed in separate eppendorf tubes. Peptides imbibed into the
microwell hydrogels were extracted by organic (50% acetonitrile/5%
formic acid) and aqueous (100 mM ammonium bicarbonate) solvents, a
process that was repeated three times. The supernatants collected
from each extraction were combined and dried in a centrifugal vacuum
concentrator (SPD Speedvac, Thermo Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA).
The reconstituted extracts (20 μL, 0.1% formic acid) were spotted
for matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry
(MALDI MS) analysis, mixed with CHCA, 10 mg/mL in 50% acetonitrile,
0.5% TFA, and then stored at −20 °C until LC-MS/MS analysis
was performed.