This paper gives an overview on the progress achieved in our lab within the last two years in the analysis of single cells and tissue-like cell layers by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). Basically two types of investigations were performed: on the one hand a two-dimensional imaging and on the other hand a three-dimensional microarea analysis. In both cases chemical fixation in combination with slow air-drying were used as easy sample preparation method. It was the goal of both approaches to identify the distribution of natural components as well as the localisation of xenobiotic fluorophors. In our experimental set-ups the distribution of phophatidylcholine and amino-acid signals were in line with the expectation. In contrast, the distribution of the fluorophor ethidiumhomodimer could only be detected within the two-dimensional imaging, whereas it was not detected in the three-dimensional analysis. Also four other fluorophors failed in the latter approach. Thus, in our hands the three-dimensional detection is to date limited to certain molecules with a comparably low mass and/or an intrinsical charge. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.