Metabolic Profiling of Plasma in Overweight/Obese and Lean Men using Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography and Q-TOF Mass Spectrometry (UPLC−Q-TOF MS)

Abstract

Obesity is currently epidemic in many countries worldwide and is strongly related to diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This study investigated the differences in metabolomic profiling between overweight/obese and normal-weight men. Overweight/obese (n=30) and age-matched, normal-weight men (n=30) were included. Anthropometric parameters, conventional metabolites, and biomarkers were measured. Metabolomic profiling was analyzed with UPLC-Q-TOF MS. Overweight/obese men showed higher levels of HOMA-IR, triglycerides, total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol, and lower levels of HDL-cholesterol and adiponectin than lean men. Overweight/obese men showed higher proportion of stearic acid and lower proportion of oleic acid in serum phospholipids. Additionally, overweight/obese individuals showed higher fat intake and lower ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids. We identified three lyso-phosphatidylcholine (lysoPC) as potential plasma markers and confirmed eight known metabolites for overweight/obesity men. Especially, overweight/obese subjects showed higher levels of lysoPC C14:0 and lysoPC C18:0 and lower levels of lysoPC C18:1 than lean subjects. Results confirmed abnormal metabolism of two branched-chain amino acids, two aromatic amino acids, and fatty acid synthesis and oxidation in overweight/obese men. Additionally, the amount of dietary saturated fat may influence the proportion of saturated fatty acids in serum phospholipids and the degree of saturation of the constituent acyl group of plasma lysoPC.

Gender-Dependent Associations of Metabolite Profiles and Body Fat Distribution in a Healthy Population with Central Obesity: Towards Metabolomics Diagnostics

“…In a recent study, certain LPCs (14:0, 18:0, and 18:1) have been correlated to obesity (Kim et al, 2010). However, none of these LPCs were associated with the BFD parameters in our study.…”

“…For instance, lipidomics provides detailed information on more than 90 lipid components in plasma and has been demonstrated to be useful in identifying lipid components that are linked to metabolic and cardiovascular disorders (de Mello et al, 2009;Graessler et al, 2009;Quehenberger and Dennis, 2011). Recently, untargeted metabolite profiling using ultra performance liquid chromatography and Q-TOF mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF MS) has identified three lysophosphatidylcholines (LPC) as potential plasma markers and confirmed eight known metabolites for overweight/obesity in men (Kim et al, 2010). Moreover, lipoprotein subclasses and particles have been considered to play a critical role in the assessment of coronary heart disease (Ala-Korpela, 2008; Despres et al, 1990;Superko, 2001).…”

Distinct signatures of host–microbial meta-metabolome and gut microbiome in two C57BL/6 strains under high-fat diet

“…Many of these studies investigated the particular role of metabolites in inflammatory bowel diseases by using primarily NMR studies (Lin et al, 2011). Non-targeted metabolomics approaches in gut microbial sample matrices and liver, analysing changes occurring in metabolic diseases like obesity, are rarely given, but many studies addressed obesity-related metabolome characterization (Dumas et al, 2006;Williams et al, 2006;Fearnside et al, 2008;Li et al, 2008Li et al, , 2010aShearer et al, 2008;Newgard et al, 2009;Waldram et al, 2009;Kim et al, 2009Kim et al, , 2010Kim et al, , 2011Calvani et al, 2010;Xie et al, 2010Xie et al, , 2012Zhao et al, 2010;Oberbach et al, 2011;Duggan et al, 2011a,b;Jung et al, 2012;Hanhineva et al, 2013;Schäfer et al, 2014;Seyfried et al, 2013;Won et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2013;Daniel et al, 2014;Eisinger et al, 2014). Comparing with other studies, our study provides a greater insight into different metabolite classes that were involved in obesity-related changes by reflecting both bacterial and host metabolism.…”

Early nutrition programming of long-term health

“…In parallel to the expanding field of epigenomics, the application of metabolomics has recently gained considerable interest in the area of obesity, metabolic syndrome and diabetes research (67)(68)(69)(70) . Exploration of molecular mechanisms of metabolic programming and early growth by metabolomics approaches is an ongoing and still unresolved challenge with considerable relevance, since understanding of the sequence of underlying events and of key metabolic processes may allow for the development of even more targeted and effective intervention.…”