Volatile Organic Compounds to Identify Infectious (Bacteria/Viruses) Diseases of the Central Nervous System: A Pilot Study

Abstract

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Central nervous system (CNS) infectious diseases are common diseases in emergency rooms and neurology departments. CNS pathogen identification methods are time consuming and expensive and have low sensitivity and poor specificity. Some studies have shown that bacteria and viruses can produce specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The aim of this study is to find potential biomarkers by VOC analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in patients with bacterial and viral meningitis/encephalitis (ME). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> CSF samples from 16 patients with bacterial ME and 42 patients with viral ME were collected, and solid-phase microextraction combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze the metabolites in the CSF. <b><i>Results:</i></b> There are 2 substances (ethylene oxide and phenol) that were found to be different between the 2 groups. Ethylene oxide was significantly greater in the group of bacterial ME patients than in the viral ME group of patients (<i>p</i> < 0.05). In addition, phenol was remarkably increased in the group of ME patients compared with the bacterial ME patients (<i>p</i> < 0.05). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Ethylene oxide and phenol may be potential biomarkers to distinguish bacterial ME and viral ME. VOC analysis of CSF may be used as a supporting tool for clinical diagnosis.

Modern approaches for detection of volatile organic compounds in metabolic studies focusing on pathogenic bacteria: Current state of the art

“…In this work, SPME fibers were placed inside the endotracheal tube of rabbits infected with E. coli, S. aureus , or P. aeruginosa to extract specie-specific VOCs [ 40 ]. SPME has also been successfully applied for the analysis of bacterial metabolites in diverse biological samples, such as cerebrospinal fluid [ 64 ] and sputum from CF patients [ 73 ], and blood, sweat, urine, feces, tissues, exhaled breath gas, cell lines, and bacteria cultures [ 105 ]. Although the low stability of adsorbed VOCs precludes the long-term storage and transportation of loaded SPME fibers, its excellent compatibility with GC-MS equipment and resulting high degree of automation allows the entire protocol to be executed on one system.…”

“…An innovative application of VOC analysis is for the differentiation of viral and bacterial meningitis (ME), as the latter is one of the most threatening infections of the central nervous system (CNS) [ 64 ]. In bacterial meningitis, the timely implementation of adequate antimicrobial therapy is crucial for improving the patient's prognosis; thus, the ability to identify the type of causative pathogen quickly is paramount.…”

“… Phenol levels were significantly higher in the viral ME group vs. the bacterial ME group. [ 64 ] Vascular graft infections, endovascular infections, infective endocarditis, bone and prosthetic joint infections Ex vivo , lung tissue, blood, nasal aspirate, cardial device or heart valve SESI-HRMS 17 samples MSSA and MRSA a Evaluate the technical feasibility of SESI-HRMS as a diagnostic tool for the rapid detection of bacterial infections. High-level sensitivity (1000 CFUs ↓) and great selectivity driven by the high resolution enabled by the mass analyzer.…”

Sensitivity and specificity of in vivo COVID-19 screening by detection dogs: Results of the C19-Screendog multicenter study

“…In the past few decades, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been attracting considerable interest as potential biomarkers of human disease [ 3 ]. Their production has been investigated in cancer [ [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] ] as well as metabolic [ [10] , [11] , [12] ] and infectious diseases [ 3 , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] ].…”

Susceptibility Testing by Volatile Organic Compound Detection Direct from Positive Blood Cultures: A Proof-of-Principle Laboratory Study

“…Some VOCs can be seen as common metabolites, produced by many different bacteria or bacterial groups, while other VOCs are specific to certain genera or even species [ 10 ]. Due to the unique fingerprint of VOCs in bacterial species, the differentiation between species is possible and has been studied using different detection methods, such as an electric nose, ion mobility spectrometry, and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Nevertheless, these techniques come with some challenges, such as the inability to identify and quantify VOCs (electric nose), the large, lab-based instruments (GC-MS), and high costs (GC-MS and ion mobility spectrometry) [ 17 , 18 ].…”