Modern analytical techniques in metabolomics analysis

Abstract

Metabolomics is the comprehensive assessment of endogenous metabolites and attempts to systematically identify and quantify metabolites from a biological sample. Small-molecule metabolites have an important role in biological systems and represent attractive candidates to understand disease phenotypes. Metabolites represent a diverse group of low-molecular-weight structures including lipids, amino acids, peptides, nucleic acids, organic acids, vitamins, thiols and carbohydrates, which makes global analysis a difficult challenge. The recent rapid development of a range of analytical platforms, including GC, HPLC, UPLC, CE coupled to MS and NMR spectroscopy, could enable separation, detection, characterization and quantification of such metabolites and related metabolic pathways. Owing to the complexity of the metabolome and the diverse properties of metabolites, no single analytical platform can be applied to detect all metabolites in a biological sample. The combined use of modern instrumental analytical approaches has unravelled the ideal outcomes in metabolomics, and is beneficial to increase the coverage of detected metabolites that can not be achieved by single-analysis techniques. Integrated platforms have been frequently used to provide sensitive and reliable detection of thousands of metabolites in a biofluid sample. Continued development of these analytical platforms will accelerate widespread use and integration of metabolomics into systems biology. Here, the application of each hyphenated technique is discussed and its strengths and limitations are discussed with selected illustrative examples; furthermore, this review comprehensively highlights the role of integrated tools in metabolomic research.

UPLC-based metabonomic applications for discovering biomarkers of diseases in clinical chemistry

“…Various analytical techniques are used in metabonomics which can be classified into two categories: I-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and II-mass spectrometry (MS) [4]. Although other spectral approaches including Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance, Raman and ultraviolet spectrum are employed for metabonomics studies, they are generally less sensitive than MS [5].…”

Identification of endogenous metabolites in human sperm cells using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)

“…However, more recently, MS-based methods have also proved to be extremely useful in metabolites identification and to have some advantages over NMR in terms of sensitivity (Theodoridis et al, 2008;Alexandre-Gouabau et al, 2011;Courant et al, 2013). Nevertheless, and in order to obtain broad metabolomic descriptions, both approaches (NMR and MS) seem to complement each other (Fancy et al, 2006;Patti et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2012).…”

A Química de Produtos Naturais do Brasil no Século XXI

“…3 O desenvolvimento recente de técnicas hifenadas permitiu obter um amplo conhecimento sobre o metabolismo secundário dos organismos vivos. 4 O surgimento das ferramentas de biologia molecular entre o fim dos anos 1980 e início dos anos 1990 permitiu desvendar o universo de regulação genética e do maquinário enzimático envolvidos na biossíntese e expressão do metabolismo secundário. 5 Por conseguinte, a combinação da utilização de técnicas hifenadas e de ferramentas de biologia molecular possibilitou a investigação do sistema bioquímico de qualquer sistema biológico, seja microbiano, vegetal ou animal.…”