基于液相色谱-质谱联用技术的代谢组学方法在细胞种属分类中的应用

细胞内的代谢产物可以反映细胞的生理状态。为了考察基于胞内代谢物的指纹图谱对不同种属细胞进行区分的可行性,利用基于超高效液相色谱-高分辨飞行时间质谱(UPLC-TOF MS)技术的代谢组学方法对5种不同来源的细胞进行分类,获得了小分子代谢产物的差异表达谱,并采用主成分分析(PCA)数据处理方法对各类细胞进行模式识别。研究结果表明,不同的细胞种属之间均能呈现显著性差异。该研究可从分子水平对细胞种属进行分类,为细胞种属的鉴定与评价提供了一种新的技术方法,为细胞组学的深入研究提供了一种潜在的、非常具有应用前景的技术手段。     

Lysophosphatidylcholine Biomarkers of Lung Cancer Detected by Ultra-performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with Quadrupole Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry

Centrifugal ultrafiltration after methanol extraction of whole plasma was used as an optimal condition for the preparation of blood plasma before metabonomic studies. The plasma samples from 102 lung cancer patients and 34 healthy volunteers were prepared with this approach. With ultra-performance liquid chromatography(UPLC) coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry(Q-TOF MS) analysis, the samples were investigated in order to find potential disease biomarkers. After data acquisition, orthogonal signal correction partial least squares models were built to differentiate the healthy volunteers from lung cancer patients and to identify metabolites that showed significantly different expression between the two groups. Several metabolite ions were identified as potential biomarkers according to the variable importance in the project(VIP) value in both ion modes. Five lysophosphatidylcholines were further identified as specifically lysoPC 16:0, isomer of lysoPC 16:0, lysoPC 18:0, lysoPC 18:1 and lysoPC 18:2. These results suggest that UPLC coupled with Q-TOF MS is an effective technique for the analysis of plasma metabolites in metabonomic studies.     

CE/LC-MS multiplatform for broad metabolomic analysis of dietary polyphenols effect on colon cancer cells proliferation

In this study, an analytical multiplatform is presented to carry out a broad metabolomic study on the anti-proliferative effect of dietary polyphenols on human colon cancer cells. CE, RP/UPLC, and HILIC/UPLC all coupled to TOF MS were combined to achieve a global metabolomic examination of the effect of dietary polyphenols on HT29 colon cancer cells. By the use of a nontargeted metabolomic approach, metabolites showing significant different expression after the polyphenols treatment were identified in colon cancer cells. It was demonstrated that this multianalytical platform provided extensive metabolic information and coverage due to its complementary nature. Differences observed in metabolic profiles from CE-TOF MS, RP/UPLC-TOF MS, and HILIC/UPLC-TOF MS can be mainly assigned to their different separation mechanisms without discarding the influence of the different tools used for data processing. Changes in glutathione metabolism with an enhanced reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG) ratio were detected in polyphenols-treated cells. Moreover, significant alterations in polyamines content with important implications in cancer proliferation were observed after the treatment with polyphenols. These results from metabolomics can explain the chemopreventive effect of the tested dietary polyphenols on colon cancer and may be of importance for future prevention and/or treatment of this disease.     

Urinary Metabonomics Study of Heart Failure Patients with HILIC and RPLC Separation Coupled to TOF–MS

In this study, urinary metabolic profiles of patients with heart failure (HF) and healthy individuals were analyzed by LC-TOF–MS. Both reversed-phase chromatography and hydrophilic interaction chromatography were used to separate the endogenous metabolites in urine. Partial least-squares to latent structure-discriminant analysis was used for discriminating HF patients from healthy persons and the selection of potential biomarkers. The results suggested that the combination of LC–MS and multivariate statistical analysis could be used for HF diagnosis. The MS/MS experiments were carried out to identify the potential biomarkers which are important for the contribution to the discrimination. As a result, 12 potential biomarkers for HF were identified and the related metabolic pathways were studied.     

Fecal metabolome profiling of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma patients by ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

Fecal metabolome of healthy humans and patients suffering from liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were studied using ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF MS). Metabolic features detected by the method were then statistically treated using partial least squares to latent structure-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) models to discriminate between healthy and diseased states. PLS-DA was also used to discriminate between cirrhosis and HCC stressed fecal metabolomes and to identify potential biomarkers for cirrhosis and HCC that are expressed at significantly different amounts in fecal metabolomes. Score plots of pattern recognition analysis distinguished liver cirrhosis and HCC patients from healthy humans. Based on the variable of importance in the project (VIP) values and S-plots, six metabolites were considered as potential biomarkers with a strong increase in lysophosphatidylcholines and a dramatic decrease in bile acids and bile pigments in patients with liver cirrhosis and HCC in comparison with healthy humans. Results demonstrate the potential of UPLC-MS as an efficient and convenient method that can be applied to screen fecal samples and aid in the early diagnosis of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.     

Exploring metabolic syndrome serum profiling based on gas chromatography mass spectrometry and random forest models

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a constellation of the most dangerous heart attack risk factors: diabetes and raised fasting plasma glucose, abdominal obesity, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Analysis and representation of the variances of metabolic profiles is urgently needed for early diagnosis and treatment of MetS. In current study, we proposed a metabolomics approach for analyzing MetS based on GC–MS profiling and random forest models. The serum samples from healthy controls and MetS patients were characterized by GC–MS. Then, random forest (RF) models were used to visually discriminate the serum changes in MetS based on these GC–MS profiles. Simultaneously, some informative metabolites or potential biomarkers were successfully discovered by means of variable importance ranking in random forest models. The metabolites such as 2-hydroxybutyric acid, inositol and d-glucose, were defined as potential biomarkers to diagnose the MetS. These results obtained by proposed method showed that the combining GC–MS profiling with random forest models was a useful approach to analyze metabolites variances and further screen the potential biomarkers for MetS diagnosis.     

High-throughput bioanalysis with simultaneous acquisition of metabolic route data using ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry

The capability of ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/TOFMS) in the high-throughput quantitative analysis of a drug candidate in plasma has been investigated. Data obtained were compared with results from conventional analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometric detection on a triple quadrupole instrument (HPLC/MS/MS). The accuracies and precisions of the two approaches were comparable. The UPLC/TOFMS system displayed excellent robustness over the course of 276 injections of protein-precipitated plasma samples. With the instrumentation used, the limits of detection and quantification were approximately five-fold higher with UPLC/TOFMS than for HPLC/MS/MS. Nevertheless, the UPLC/TOFMS system proved adequate to quantify plasma concentrations of a drug molecule administered orally to rats at a pharmacologically relevant dose of 4 mg/kg. As well as providing quantitative data on the test compound, it was also possible to extract data for eight different metabolites, including several isomeric species (three +O and three +2O) from the UPLC/TOFMS data sets, using an analytical method with a 2.5-minute run time. Selectivity for the test compound and its metabolites was derived from the accurate mass capabilities of the TOF instrument, and no MS method development was required.     

Development of a broad toxicological screening technique for urine using ultra-performance liquid chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Withdrawal of the support for the REMEDi HS drug profiling system has necessitated its replacement within our laboratories with an alternative broad toxicological screening technique. To this end, a novel method, based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) and time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry, was developed for the routine analysis of urine samples. Identification was achieved by comparison of acquired data to libraries containing more than 300 common drugs and metabolites, and was based on a combination of retention time, exact mass and fragmentation patterns. Validation data for the method is presented and comprised an evaluation of the following parameters: precision; transferability of the methodology between the six collaborating laboratories; specificity; extraction recovery and stability of processed samples; matrix effects and sensitivity.This paper presents the benefits of supplementary fragmentation data with particular regard to increasing specificity and confidence of identification and its usefulness with overdosed samples. The utility of the method was assessed by the parallel analysis of 30 authentic urine samples using the REMEDi HS and UPLC-TOF. The latter provided enhanced detection, leading to the identification of twice as many drugs. Furthermore it did not miss any compounds that were identified by REMEDi HS. The UPLC-TOF findings were further verified by a combination of data from three other conventional screening techniques, i.e., GC-MS, HPLC-DAD and UPLC-MS/MS.     

High-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection and ultra-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of indoleamine neurotransmitters and their metabolites in sea lamprey plasma

We present a comparison of two sensitive methods, HPLC with fluorescence detector (HPLC/FLD) and UPLC with electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS), for the determination of indoleamine neurotransmitters (NTs) and their metabolites in sea lamprey plasma samples. Liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) were also tested for recovery and matrix effect. The recoveries of SPE determined by HPLC/FLD and UPLC/MS/MS ranged from 75 to 123% and 78 to 105%, respectively, while the recoveries of LLE ranged from 45 to 73% and 48 to 75%, respectively. SPE combined with HPLC/FLD and UPLC/MS/MS to determine the target analytes in plasma samples were validated of the sensitivity, reproducibility, accuracy and precision. Both methods exhibited excellent linearity in the range of 0.2–50 ng mL⁻¹ for all analytes. The limits of detection (LOD) varied from 0.04 ng mL⁻¹ to 0.13 ng mL⁻¹ for HPLC/FLD method and 0.003 ng mL⁻¹ to 0.02 ng mL⁻¹ for UPLC/MS/MS method. The inter-day accuracy ranged from 82.5 to 127.0% for HPLC/FLD and 93.0 to 113.0% for UPLC/MS/MS. The inter-day precision ranged from 9.9 to 32.3% for HPLC/FLD and 5.4 to 13.2% for UPLC/MS/MS. These results demonstrated that the values obtained by both methods were within the satisfactory range and the UPLC/MS/MS method provided more accurate and precise measurements than HPLC/FLD method. The comparison is of great importance to determine the available detectors, considering the complexity and expensiveness versus quality parameters. These two methods were applied to the analysis of four important indoleamine neurotransmitter analytes (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid, tryptamine and melatonin) in sea lamprey plasma samples.     

成骨细胞膜色谱/超高效液相色谱-飞行时间质谱法快速筛选六味地黄汤抗骨质疏松活性成分

采用成骨细胞建立了细胞膜色谱/超高效液相色谱-飞行时间质谱（CMC/UPLC-TOF/MS）的分析方法。该法可快速筛选中药方剂六味地黄汤中潜在的抗骨质疏松活性成分，通过细胞试验和斑马鱼骨质疏松模型试验验证了筛选结果梓醇的体内外药效作用。以六味地黄汤水提物（90 g/L）为样品，通过CMC/UPLC-TOF/MS分析，快速鉴别细胞膜色谱柱保留成分群，高选择性获取六味地黄汤中16种潜在活性成分。该文以前沿色谱法分析梓醇、丹皮酚、齐墩果酸与细胞膜色谱固定相的亲和强度，选择亲和强度和含量较高的梓醇进行体内外药效验证，发现梓醇在对小鼠成骨细胞有显著促生长作用，能提高骨质疏松斑马鱼头部骨矿化面积。CMC/UPLC-TOF/MS筛选方法能在复杂中药方剂中快速得到抗骨质疏松活性成分，具有操作简便、快速、高效灵敏的优势。     

A metabonomic approach applied to predict patients with cerebral infarction

Cerebral infarction is always of sudden onset, and usually leading to serious consequence. It is of therapeutic significance to develop fast and accurate diagnosis methods for cerebral infarction so that patients can be treated timely and properly. A metabonomic approach was then proposed to investigate the potential biomarkers and metabolic pathways associated with cerebral infarction and also establish a prediction model of cerebral infarction for the fast diagnosis. Serum metabolic profiling of sixty-seven cerebral infarction patients and sixty-two controls was obtained using UPLC-TOF MS. The resulting data were then processed by multivariate statistical analysis to graphically demonstrate metabolic variations. The PLS-DA model was validated with cross validation and permutation tests to assure the model's reliability, and significant difference was obtained between the original and hypothetical models (p < 0.0001). A series of endogenous metabolites in the one-carbon cycle, such as folic acid, cysteine, S-adenosyl homocysteine and oxidized glutathione, were determined as potential biomarkers of cerebral infarction. A prediction model developed using PLS-KNN algorithm was established to differentiate cerebral infarction patients from controls, and an average accuracy of 100% was obtained. In conclusion, metabonomic approach is a powerful tool to investigate the pathogenesis of stroke and is expected to be developed as a useful method for the fast diagnosis.     

Ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry as a sensitive and powerful technology for metabolomic studies

Metabolomics is the comprehensive assessment of endogenous metabolites of a biological system. These large-scale analyses of metabolites are intimately bound to advancements in ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray (UPLC) technologies and have emerged in parallel with the development of novel mass analyzers and hyphenated techniques. Recently, the combination of UPLC with MS covers a number of polar metabolites, thus enlarging the number of detected analytes in the widely used separation sciences. This technology has rapidly been accepted by the analytical community and is being gradually applied to various fields such as metabolomics and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Given the power of the technology, metabolomics has become increasingly popular in drug development, molecular medicine, traditional medicine and other biotechnology fields, since it profiles directly the phenotype and changes thereof in contrast to other "-omics" technologies. Hyphenated UPLC/MS technique is becoming a useful tool in the study of body fluids, represents a promising hyphenated microseparation platform in metabolomics and has a strong potential to contribute to disease diagnosis. This review describes the applications of UPLC/MS in metabolomic research, and comparison role of HPLC/MS, NMR and GC/MS, highlights its advantages and limitations with certain characteristic examples in the life and TCM sciences.     

慢性心功能衰竭患者尿液的代谢组学研究

采用基于液相色谱-质谱联用的方法对慢性心力衰竭(Chronic heart failure, CHF)患者和正常对照(Control)人群的尿液进行分析, 筛选慢性心力衰竭患者尿液中的差异代谢物, 研究其发病机制, 并为临床治疗提供科学依据.选择15个慢性心力衰竭患者(年龄(62.27±3.14)岁)及15个正常人(年龄(65.41±4.63)岁), 采用高分辨度快速液相色谱-四极杆-飞行时间串联质谱(RRLC-QTOF/MS)技术对尿液代谢物进行分析, 采用主成分分析(PCA)对两组代谢物进行分类, 并筛选潜在生物标记物;运用偏最小二乘判别分析法(PLS-DA)建模, 考察生物标记物对疾病筛选的预测能力.研究结果表明, CHF组和Control组尿液代谢物谱能得到很好的区分, 发现并鉴定了2种潜在生物标记物尿苷及丙氨酰色氨酸, 提示嘧啶代谢和色氨酸代谢可能在心力衰竭发生发展中有重要作用.     

High-throughput quantification for a drug mixture in rat plasma-a comparison of Ultra Performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry with high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

A quantitative Ultra Performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPL/MS/MS) protocol was developed for a five-compound mixture in rat plasma. A similar high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS) quantification protocol was developed for comparison purposes. Among the five test compounds, three preferred positive electrospray ionization (ESI) and two preferred negative ESI. As a result, both UPLC/MS/MS and HPLC/MS/MS analyses were performed by having the mass spectrometer collecting ESI multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) data in both positive and negative ion modes during a single injection. Peak widths for most standards were 4.8 s for the HPLC analysis and 2.4 s for the UPLC analysis. There were 17 to 20 data points obtained for each of the LC peaks. Compared with the HPLC/MS/MS method, the UPLC/MS/MS method offered 3-fold decrease in retention time, up to 10-fold increase in detected peak height, with 2-fold decrease in peak width. Limits of quantification (LOQs) for both HPLC and UPLC methods were evaluated. For UPLC/MS/MS analysis, a linear range up to four orders of magnitude was obtained with r2 values ranging from 0.991 to 0.998. The LOQs for the five analytes ranged from 0.08 to 9.85 ng/mL. Three levels of quality control (QC) samples were analyzed. For the UPLC/MS/MS protocol, the percent relative standard deviation (RSD%) for low QC (2 ng/mL) ranged from 3.42 to 8.67% (N = 18). The carryover of the UPLC/MS/MS protocol was negligible and the robustness of the UPLC/MS/MS system was evaluated with up to 963 QC injections.     

Nontargeted urine metabolomics analysis of the protective and therapeutic effects of Citri Reticulatae Chachiensis Pericarpium on high-fat feed-induced hyperlipidemia in rats

In this study, we focused on studying the changes in urine metabolites in hyperlipidemic rats using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-fight mass spectrometry (UPLC–Q-TOF/MS) and metabolomics, as well as the effect of Citri Reticulatae Chachiensis Pericarpium (CRCP) on hyperlipidemia. These urine samples were examined by UPLC–Q-TOF/MS to obtain MS data. The MS data were analyzed by principal component analysis and partial least squares-discriminant analysis to identify the differential metabolites. CRCP reduced the body weight and levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and abnormally decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in hyperlipidemic rats, which were significantly raised by a high-fat diet. Twenty-seven potential biomarkers were identified within the complex sample matrix of urine. Fourteen biomarkers increased in the hyperlipidemia rats compared with normal rats. Meanwhile, 13 biomarkers decreased. CRCP reversed abnormal changes in biomarkers, including 5-l -glutamyl-taurine, 5-aminopentanoic acid, cis-4-octenedioic acid and 2-octenedioic acid. These biomarkers show that hyperlipidemia is related to the metabolic pathways of taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis , and arginine and proline metabolism . CRCP mainly prevents hyperlipidemia by intervening in these metabolic pathways.     

亲水作用色谱/质谱联用方法用于膀胱癌患者血清代谢组学研究

膀胱癌是泌尿系统最常见的恶性肿瘤之一,具有高发病率、高复发率和高进展率的特点.本研究应用69个极性代谢物标样选择合适的分离系统,建立了两性离子亲水作用色谱/质谱联用的代谢组学分析方法.本方法线性范围较宽,检出限低于ng/mL数量级.将本方法用于血清代谢组学分析,85%以上代谢物峰面积的RSD<30%.对64例膀胱癌患者和32例正常人的血清进行代谢组学研究,发现溶血磷脂酰胆碱、游离脂肪酸、氨基酸、胆汁酸、有机酸、核苷等在患病组和正常组中存在显著差异.经筛选和验证,甘磷酸胆碱、胱氨酸、十二碳烯酸、二十碳烯酸和鹅去氧胆酸5种代谢物可以作为区分膀胱癌和正常人的潜在标志物.本研究结果表明,基于亲水作用色谱/质谱联用的代谢组学方法是发现癌症诊断潜在生物标志物的有效手段.     

A UPLC‐TOF/MS‐based metabolomics study of rattan stems of Schisandra chinensis effects on Alzheimer's disease rats model

A UPLC‐TOF/MS‐based metabolomics method was established to explore the therapeutic mechanisms of rattan stems of S. chinensis (SCS) in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Experimental AD model was induced by intra‐hippocampal Aβ_1–42 injection in rats. Cognitive function and oxidative stress condition in brain of AD rats were assessed using Morris water maze tests and antioxidant assays [malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH‐Px)], respectively. UPLC‐TOF/MS combined with multivariate statistical analysis were conducted to study the changes in metabolic networks in serum of rats. The results indicated that the AD model was established successfully and the inducement of Aβ_1–42 caused a decline in spatial learning and memory of rats. The injection of Aβ_1–42 in rat brains significantly elevated the level of MDA, and reduced SOD and GSH‐Px activities. In addition, SCS showed significant anti‐AD effects on model rats. A total of 30 metabolites were finally identified as potential biomarkers of AD and 14 of them had a significant recovery compared with the AD model after SCS administration. Changes in AD metabolite profiling were restored to different levels through the regulation of 13 pathways. This is first report on the use of the UPLC‐TOF/MS‐based serum metabolomics method to investigate therapeutic effects of SCS on AD, and enrich potential biomarkers and metabolic networks of AD.     

A method for comprehensive analysis of urinary acylglycines by using ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometry

Acylglycines are an important class of metabolites that have been used in the diagnosis of several inborn errors of metabolism (IEM). However, current analytical methods detect only a few acylglycines. There is a need to profile these metabolites in a comprehensive manner for studying their functions and improving their diagnostic values for different IEM and potentially other diseases. We describe a sensitive method that combines the chromatographic resolving power of ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) to separate closely related metabolites including isomers with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Acylglycines were extracted from urine using an anion exchange solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge. After UPLC separation, the acylglycines were detected on a hybrid triple quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometer. A set of standards were used for the development of an optimal MS acquisition method. Several acquisition modes using information derived from collisioninduced dissociation breakdown curves were used to detect acylglycines. Using this method, 18 acylglycines were detected in the urine of healthy individuals and confirmed using standards, while 47 additional acylglycines were detected and tentatively identified, based on their retention and fragmentation pattern. Among the 65 acylglycines detected, only 18 of them have been previously reported in biofluids of healthy individuals. These results will be deposited in a public human metabolome database. This example illustrates that by developing a method tailored to the analysis of a class of metabolites sharing similar structural moieties, we can potentially identify many more new metabolites, thereby expanding the overall metabolome coverage.     

Ultra high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric detection of glucuronides resistant to enzymatic hydrolysis: Implications to doping control analysis

Controversial results have been reported in the literature regarding the behavior of two testosterone (T) metabolites (3α-glucuronide-6β-hydroxyandrosterone and 3α-glucuronide-6β-hydroxyetiocholanolone) excreted after T administration. Due to their potential as biomarkers of T misuse, a UHPLC–MS/MS method for the direct quantification of these glucuronides was developed and validated. In addition, the main phase II metabolites of T that compose the steroid profile used for doping control purposes (glucuronides of T, epitestosterone, androsterone and etiocholanolone) were included. The method was found to be linear and with suitable LODs and LOQs for all metabolites. The average accuracies were between 86% and 120%, the RSDs for the intra- and inter-day precision were below 15% and 25% respectively. The method showed low matrix effect. Samples obtained before and after the administration of T were analyzed by both the developed UHPLC–MS/MS method and the GC–MS/MS method currently used by anti-doping laboratories. Relevant disagreements between the results obtained for 3α-glucuronide-6β-hydroxyandrosterone and 3α-glucuronide-6β-hydroxyetiocholanolone quantitation were observed. These markers seemed to be more suitable for the screening of T misuse when detected by UHPLC–MS/MS. These discrepancies were further investigated in 50 urine samples from healthy volunteers. The two methods gave highly correlated results for all metabolites that are currently included in the athlete's steroid profile confirming the reliability of the UHPLC–MS/MS method. However, the quantification of 3α-glucuronide-6β-hydroxyandrosterone and 3α-glucuronide-6β-hydroxyetiocholanolone, was only possible by using the UHPLC–MS/MS method since three interfering compounds were observed when performing the GC–MS/MS analysis with the most intense ion transitions. These results confirm the potential of the resistant glucuronides as biomarkers of T misuse. Additionally, they suggest that previously reported reference ranges for these metabolites should be reevaluated.