Exploring the metabolic biomarkers and pathway changes in crucian under carbonate alkalinity exposure using high-throughput metabolomics analysis based on UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS

The aims of this study is to explore the metabolomic biomarker and pathway changes in crucian under carbonate alkalinity exposures using high-throughput metabolomics analysis based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-quadrupole time of flight-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS) for carrying out adaptive evolution of fish in environmental exposures and understanding molecular physiological mechanisms of saline–alkali tolerance in fishes. Under 60 day exposure management, the UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS technology, coupled with a pattern recognition approach and metabolic pathway analysis, was utilized to give insight into the metabolic biomarker and pathway changes. In addition, biochemical parameters in response to carbonate alkalinity in fish were detected for chronic impairment evaluation. A total of twenty-seven endogenous metabolites were identified to distinguish the biochemical changes in fish in clean water under exposure to different concentrations of carbonate alkalinity (CA); these mainly involved amino acid synthesis and metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, pyruvate metabolism and the citrate cycle (TCA cycle). Compared with the control group, CA exposure increased the level of blood ammonia; TP; ALB; Gln in the liver and gills; GS; urea in blood, the liver and gills; CREA; CPS; Glu and LDH; and decreased the level of weight gain rate, oxygen consumption, discharge rate of ammonia, SOD, CAT, ALT, AST and Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase. At low concentrations, CA can change the normal metabolism of fish in terms of changing the osmotic pressure regulation capacity, antioxidant capacity, ammonia metabolism and liver and kidney function to adapt to the CA exposure environment. As the concentration of CA increases, various metabolic processes in crucian are inhibited, causing chronic damage to the body. The results show that the metabolomic strategy is a potentially powerful tool for identifying the mechanisms in response to different environmental exposomes and offers precious information about the chronic response of fish to CA.

We explore the metabolic biomarker and pathway changes accompanying the adaptive evolution of crucian subjected to carbonate alkalinity exposure, using UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS, in order to understand the molecular physiological mechanisms of saline–alkali tolerance.

Retracted Article: A high-throughput metabolomics strategy for discovering the influence of differential metabolites and metabolic pathways of huaxian capsules on sepsis-associated Qi deficiency and blood stasis syndrome

High-throughput metabolomics can be used to investigate the therapeutic targets and metabolic mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine formulae.

High-throughput metabolic profiling, combined with chemometrics and bioinformatic analysis reveals functional alterations in myocardial dysfunction

High-throughput metabolic profiling technology has been used for biomarker discovery and to reveal underlying metabolic mechanisms.

Exploring the biomarkers and therapeutic mechanism of kidney-yang deficiency syndrome treated by You-gui pill using systems pharmacology and serum metabonomics

In this study, systems pharmacology was used to predict the molecular targets of You-gui pill (YGP) and explore the therapeutic mechanism of Kidney-Yang Deficiency Syndrome (KYDS) treated with YGP. On the basis of this, serum samples from control group, KYDS model group and YGP group rats were studied using 1H NMR to verify the results of systems pharmacology from the level of metabonomics. Simultaneously, 1H NMR spectra of serum samples were obtained and statistically assessed using pattern recognition analysis. Biochemical analyses of serums were performed via radioimmunoassays. Furthermore, histopathological studies were conducted on the pituitary, adrenal, and thyroid glands, and testicles of the control, KYDS and YGP rats. Using systems pharmacology to analyze the active components of YGP, 61 active compounds were finally found. These compounds were likely to have an effect on 3177 target proteins and involve 234 pathways. Using metabonomics to analyze serum from KYDS rats treated with YGP, 22 endogenous biomarkers were found. These biomarkers were mainly involved in 10 metabolic pathways. Combining systems pharmacology and metabonomics, we found that the regulation of KYDS was primarily associated with 19 active compounds of 5 Chinese herbal medicines in YGP. These active compounds mainly had an effect on 8 target proteins, including phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, betaine-homocysteine s-methyltransferase 1, alcohol dehydrogenase 1C, etc. These target proteins were primarily involved in 6 overlapping pathways, namely aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis, arginine and proline metabolism, and pyruvate metabolism. In addition, there were 4 non-overlapping pathways, respectively alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, d-glutamine and d-glutamate metabolism, ubiquinone and other terpenoid-quinone biosynthesis, and galactose metabolism. In summary, the therapeutic effects of YGP on KYDS were mainly associated with neuroendocrine regulation, energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, inflammatory responses, apoptosis, oxidative stress and intestinal flora metabolism. What's more, we also found that YGP possessed the potential to protect liver and kidney function. Our study demonstrated that systems pharmacology and metabonomics methods were novel strategies for the exploration of the mechanisms of KYDS and TCM formulas.

Metabolomic estimation of the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma based on ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Metabolomics has been shown to be an effective tool for biomarker screening and pathway characterization and disease diagnosis. Metabolic characteristics of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may enable the discovery of novel biomarkers for its diagnosis. In this work, metabolomics was used to investigate metabolic alterations of HCC patients. Plasma samples from HCC patients and age-matched healthy controls were investigated using high resolution ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and metabolic differences were analyzed using pattern recognition methods. 23 distinguishable metabolites were identified. The altered metabolic pathways were associated with arginine and proline metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, steroid hormone biosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolism, etc. To demonstrate the utility of plasma biomarkers for the diagnosis of HCC, five metabolites comprising deoxycholic acid 3-glucuronide, 6-hydroxymelatonin glucuronide, 4-methoxycinnamic acid, 11b-hydroxyprogesterone and 4-hydroxyretinoic acid were selected as candidate biomarkers. These metabolites that contributed to the combined model could significantly increase the diagnostic performance of HCC. It has proved to be a powerful tool in the discovery of new biomarkers for disease detection and suggest that panels of metabolites may be valuable to translate our findings to clinically useful diagnostic tests.

Metabolomics has been shown to be an effective tool for biomarker screening and pathway characterization and disease diagnosis.