PubMed

A Minimal Threshold of c-di-GMP Is Essential for Fruiting Body Formation and Sporulation in Myxococcus xanthus. PLoS Genet. 2016 May;12(5):e1006080 Authors: Skotnicka D, Smaldone GT, Petters T, Trampari E, Liang J, Kaever V, Malone JG, Singer M, Søgaard-Andersen L Abstract Generally, the second messenger bis-(3'-5')-cyclic dimeric GMP (c-di-GMP) regulates the switch between motile and sessile lifestyles in bacteria. Here, we show that c-di-GMP is an essential regulator of multicellular development in the social bacterium Myxococcus xanthus. In response to starvation, M. xanthus initiates a developmental program that culminates in formation of spore-filled fruiting bodies. We show that c-di-GMP accumulates at elevated levels during development and that this increase is essential for completion of development whereas excess c-di-GMP does not interfere with development. MXAN3735 (renamed DmxB) is identified as a diguanylate cyclase that only functions during development and is responsible for this increased c-di-GMP accumulation. DmxB synthesis is induced in response to starvation, thereby restricting DmxB activity to development. DmxB is essential for development and functions downstream of the Dif chemosensory system to stimulate exopolysaccharide accumulation by inducing transcription of a subset of the genes encoding proteins involved in exopolysaccharide synthesis. The developmental defects in the dmxB mutant are non-cell autonomous and rescued by co-development with a strain proficient in exopolysaccharide synthesis, suggesting reduced exopolysaccharide accumulation as the causative defect in this mutant. The NtrC-like transcriptional regulator EpsI/Nla24, which is required for exopolysaccharide accumulation, is identified as a c-di-GMP receptor, and thus a putative target for DmxB generated c-di-GMP. Because DmxB can be-at least partially-functionally replaced by a heterologous diguanylate cyclase, these results altogether suggest a model in which a minimum threshold level of c-di-GMP is essential for the successful completion of multicellular development in M. xanthus. PMID: 27214040 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

The Effect of Gestational and Lactational Age on the Human Milk Metabolome. Nutrients. 2016;8(5) Authors: Sundekilde UK, Downey E, O'Mahony JA, O'Shea CA, Ryan CA, Kelly AL, Bertram HC Abstract Human milk is the ideal nutrition source for healthy infants during the first six months of life and a detailed characterisation of the composition of milk from mothers that deliver prematurely (<37 weeks gestation), and of how human milk changes during lactation, would benefit our understanding of the nutritional requirements of premature infants. Individual milk samples from mothers delivering prematurely and at term were collected. The human milk metabolome, established by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, was influenced by gestational and lactation age. Metabolite profiling identified that levels of valine, leucine, betaine, and creatinine were increased in colostrum from term mothers compared with mature milk, while those of glutamate, caprylate, and caprate were increased in mature term milk compared with colostrum. Levels of oligosaccharides, citrate, and creatinine were increased in pre-term colostrum, while those of caprylate, caprate, valine, leucine, glutamate, and pantothenate increased with time postpartum. There were differences between pre-term and full-term milk in the levels of carnitine, caprylate, caprate, pantothenate, urea, lactose, oligosaccharides, citrate, phosphocholine, choline, and formate. These findings suggest that the metabolome of pre-term milk changes within 5-7 weeks postpartum to resemble that of term milk, independent of time of gestation at pre-mature delivery. PMID: 27213440 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Time Dependency of Chemodiversity and Biosynthetic Pathways: An LC-MS Metabolomic Study of Marine-Sourced Penicillium. Mar Drugs. 2016;14(5) Authors: Roullier C, Bertrand S, Blanchet E, Peigné M, Robiou du Pont T, Guitton Y, Pouchus YF, Grovel O Abstract This work aimed at studying metabolome variations of marine fungal strains along their growth to highlight the importance of the parameter "time" for new natural products discovery. An untargeted time-scale metabolomic study has been performed on two different marine-derived Penicillium strains. They were cultivated for 18 days and their crude extracts were analyzed by HPLC-DAD-HRMS (High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Diode Array Detector-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry) each day. With the example of griseofulvin biosynthesis, a pathway shared by both strains, this work provides a new approach to study biosynthetic pathway regulations, which could be applied to other metabolites and more particularly new ones. Moreover, the results of this study emphasize the interest of such an approach for the discovery of new chemical entities. In particular, at every harvesting time, previously undetected features were observed in the LC-MS (Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry) data. Therefore, harvesting times for metabolite extraction should be performed at different time points to access the hidden metabolome. PMID: 27213411 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Quantitative Metabolomic Analysis of Urinary Citrulline and Calcitroic Acid in Mice after Exposure to Various Types of Ionizing Radiation. Int J Mol Sci. 2016;17(5) Authors: Goudarzi M, Chauthe S, Strawn SJ, Weber WM, Brenner DJ, Fornace AJ Abstract With the safety of existing nuclear power plants being brought into question after the Fukushima disaster and the increased level of concern over terrorism-sponsored use of improvised nuclear devices, it is more crucial to develop well-defined radiation injury markers in easily accessible biofluids to help emergency-responders with injury assessment during patient triage. Here, we focused on utilizing ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) to identify and quantitate the unique changes in the urinary excretion of two metabolite markers, calcitroic acid and citrulline, in mice induced by different forms of irradiation; external γ irradiation at a low dose rate (LDR) of 3.0 mGy/min and a high dose rate (HDR) of 1.1 Gy/min, and internal exposure to Cesium-137 ((137)Cs) and Strontium-90 ((90)Sr). The multiple reaction monitoring analysis showed that, while exposure to (137)Cs and (90)Sr induced a statistically significant and persistent decrease, similar doses of external γ beam at the HDR had the opposite effect, and the LDR had no effect on the urinary levels of these two metabolites. This suggests that the source of exposure and the dose rate strongly modulate the in vivo metabolomic injury responses, which may have utility in clinical biodosimetry assays for the assessment of exposure in an affected population. This study complements our previous investigations into the metabolomic profile of urine from mice internally exposed to (90)Sr and (137)Cs and to external γ beam radiation. PMID: 27213362 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

COMBINED METABOLOMICS AND PROTEOMICS REVEALS HYPOXIA AS A CAUSE OF LOWER PRODUCTIVITY ON SCALE-UP TO A 5000-LITER CHO BIOPROCESS. Biotechnol J. 2016 May 23; Authors: Gao Y, Ray S, Dai S, Ivanov AR, Abu-Absi NR, Lewis AM, Huang Z, Xing Z, Borys MC, Li ZJ, Karger BL Abstract Large-scale bioprocessing is key to the successful manufacturing of a biopharmaceutical. However, cell viability and productivity are often lower in the scale-up from laboratory to production. In this study, we analyzed CHO cells, which showed lower percent viabilities and productivity in a 5-KL production scale bioreactor compared to a 20-L bench-top scale under seemingly identical process parameters. An increase in copper concentration in the media from 0.02 µM to 0.4 µM led to a doubling of percent viability in the production scale albeit still at a lower level than the bench-top scale. Combined metabolomics and proteomics revealed the increased copper reduced the presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the 5-KL scale process. The reduction in oxidative stress was supported by the increased level of glutathione peroxidase in the lower copper level condition. The excess ROS was shown to be due to hypoxia (intermittent), as evidenced by the reduction in fibronectin with increased copper. The 20-L scale showed much less hypoxia and thus less excess ROS generation, resulting in little to no impact to productivity with the increased copper in the media. The study illustrates the power of 'Omics in aiding in the understanding of biological processes in biopharmaceutical production. PMID: 27213298 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Compound Identification Using Penalized Linear Regression on Metabolomics. J Mod Appl Stat Methods. 2016 May;15(1):373-388 Authors: Liu R, Wu D, Zhang X, Kim S Abstract Compound identification is often achieved by matching the experimental mass spectra to the mass spectra stored in a reference library based on mass spectral similarity. Because the number of compounds in the reference library is much larger than the range of mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) values so that the data become high dimensional data suffering from singularity. For this reason, penalized linear regressions such as ridge regression and the lasso are used instead of the ordinary least squares regression. Furthermore, two-step approaches using the dot product and Pearson's correlation along with the penalized linear regression are proposed in this study. PMID: 27212894 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Characterizing Strain Variation in Engineered E. coli Using a Multi-Omics-Based Workflow. Cell Syst. 2016 May 19; Authors: Brunk E, George KW, Alonso-Gutierrez J, Thompson M, Baidoo E, Wang G, Petzold CJ, McCloskey D, Monk J, Yang L, O'Brien EJ, Batth TS, Martin HG, Feist A, Adams PD, Keasling JD, Palsson BO, Lee TS Abstract Understanding the complex interactions that occur between heterologous and native biochemical pathways represents a major challenge in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. We present a workflow that integrates metabolomics, proteomics, and genome-scale models of Escherichia coli metabolism to study the effects of introducing a heterologous pathway into a microbial host. This workflow incorporates complementary approaches from computational systems biology, metabolic engineering, and synthetic biology; provides molecular insight into how the host organism microenvironment changes due to pathway engineering; and demonstrates how biological mechanisms underlying strain variation can be exploited as an engineering strategy to increase product yield. As a proof of concept, we present the analysis of eight engineered strains producing three biofuels: isopentenol, limonene, and bisabolene. Application of this workflow identified the roles of candidate genes, pathways, and biochemical reactions in observed experimental phenomena and facilitated the construction of a mutant strain with improved productivity. The contributed workflow is available as an open-source tool in the form of iPython notebooks. PMID: 27211860 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Child Stunting is Associated with Low Circulating Essential Amino Acids. EBioMedicine. 2016 Apr;6:246-52 Authors: Semba RD, Shardell M, Sakr Ashour FA, Moaddel R, Trehan I, Maleta KM, Ordiz MI, Kraemer K, Khadeer MA, Ferrucci L, Manary MJ Abstract BACKGROUND: Stunting affects about one-quarter of children under five worldwide. The pathogenesis of stunting is poorly understood. Nutritional interventions have had only modest effects in reducing stunting. We hypothesized that insufficiency in essential amino acids may be limiting the linear growth of children. METHODS: We used a targeted metabolomics approach to measure serum amino acids, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, and other metabolites using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in 313 children, aged 12-59months, from rural Malawi. Children underwent anthropometry. FINDINGS: Sixty-two percent of the children were stunted. Children with stunting had lower serum concentrations of all nine essential amino acids (tryptophan, isoleucine, leucine, valine, methionine, threonine, histidine, phenylalanine, lysine) compared with nonstunted children (p<0.01). In addition, stunted children had significantly lower serum concentrations of conditionally essential amino acids (arginine, glycine, glutamine), non-essential amino acids (asparagine, glutamate, serine), and six different sphingolipids compared with nonstunted children. Stunting was also associated with alterations in serum glycerophospholipid concentrations. INTERPRETATION: Our findings support the idea that children with a high risk of stunting may not be receiving an adequate dietary intake of essential amino acids and choline, an essential nutrient for the synthesis of sphingolipids and glycerophospholipids. PMID: 27211567 [PubMed - in process]

Endogenous metabolites that are substrates of Organic Anion Transporter's (OATs) predict methotrexate clearance. Pharmacol Res. 2016 May 19; Authors: Kienana M, Benz-de Bretagne I, Nadal-Desbarats L, Blasco H, Gyan E, Choquet S, Montigny F, Emond P, Barin-Le Guellec C Abstract Variable pharmacokinetics of high-dose-methotrexate (MTX) is responsible for severe toxicities. Unpredictable overexposure still occurs during some courses despite having controlled the main factors known to play a role in its elimination. The aim of our study was to evaluate whether the urine metabolomic profile measured at the time of MTX administration is predictive of the drug's clearance and/or of treatment-related toxicity. We analyzed the urine content of endogenous metabolites before MTX administration in a cohort of adult patients treated for lymphoid malignancies. Individual MTX clearance (MTXCL) was estimated from population pharmacokinetic analyses of therapeutic drug monitoring data. We determined the urine metabolite content by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and applied Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis to assess the relationship between the urine metabolome and MTXCL. External validation was applied to evaluate the performances of the PLS model. We used orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) to distinguish patients with normal or delayed elimination, and patients with or without toxicity. Sixty-two patients were studied. We obtained a very good prediction of individual MTX clearance using a set of 28 metabolites present in patient urine at baseline. The mean prediction error and precision were -0.36% and 21.4%, respectively, for patients not included in the model. The model included a set of endogenous organic anions, of which the tubular secretion depends on organic anion transporter (OAT) function. Our analyses did not allow us to discriminate between patients with or without delayed elimination or those who did or did not experience toxicity. Urinary metabolomics can be informative about an individual's ability to clear MTX. More broadly, it paves the way for the development of a biomarker of tubular secretion, easily measurable from endogenous substances. PMID: 27210722 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Related Articles Branched chain amino acids maintain the molecular weight of poly(γ-glutamic acid) of Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 9945 during the fermentation. J Biosci Bioeng. 2016 May 18; Authors: Mitsunaga H, Meissner L, Büchs J, Fukusaki E Abstract Poly(γ-glutamic acid) mainly produced by Bacillus spp. is an industrially important compound due to several useful features. Among them, molecular weight is an important characteristic affecting on the physical properties such as viscosities and negative charge densities. However, it is difficult to control the molecular size of PGA since it decreases during fermentation. Previous study reported that PGA produced in the media containing different carbon sources such as glucose and glycerol showed differences in molecular weight. Therefore in this study, the effect of carbon source on the PGA molecular weight was examined; with the aim of developing a strategy to maintain the high molecular weight of PGA during fermentation. Our result showed that the weight average molecular weight (Mw) of PGA of Bacillus licheniformis ATCC 9945 cultivated in the media containing PTS-sugars were higher than the medium containing glycerol (non-PTS). The result of metabolome analysis indicated the possibility of CodY (a global regulator protein) activation in the cells cultivated in the media containing PTS-sugars. To mimic this effect, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), which are activators of CodY, were added to a medium containing glycerol. As the result, the Mw of PGA in the BCAAs-supplemented media were maintained and high during the early production phase compared to the non BCAAs-supplemented medium. These results indicate that BCAAs can repress the PGA molecular weight reduction during fermentation in B. licheniformis ATCC 9945. PMID: 27209178 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Application of metabolomics to investigate the antitumor mechanism of flavopiridol in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci. 2016 May 9;1025:40-47 Authors: Shao X, Gao D, Wang Y, Jin F, Wu Q, Liu H Abstract Flavopiridol is reported to have potent antitumor effects by inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). However, most studies of flavopiridol focus on specific genes and kinases, so the antitumor mechanism needs further elucidation at the metabolic level. In the present study, an UPLC/Q-TOF MS metabolomics approach was used to investigate its antiproliferative effects on MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Comparing flavopiridol-treated MCF-7 cells with vehicle control, 21 potential biomarkers involved in five metabolism pathways were identified. Two pathways involving glutathione metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism showed that glutathione (GSH) and phosphatidylcholines (PCs) levels were reduced while their oxidized products oxidized glutathione (GSSG) and lysophosphatidylcholines (LysoPCs) were greatly increased. Further investigation showed an apparent accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Thus, we suggest that oxidative stress was provoked in MCF-7 cells to reduce the GSH and PCs levels and cause mitochondria lesions. Moreover, cell cycle analysis showed that flavopiridol blocked cells at G1 stage, which was consistent with the depletion of spermidine and spermine that are believed to promote cancer progression. Taking these together, we concluded that flavopiridol could induce oxidative stress and cell cycle arrest, which finally lead to cell apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. This study provides a new strategy for studying the antitumor mechanism of flavopiridol, which could be used for its further improvement and application. PMID: 27208856 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Metabolomic characterization of renal ischemia and reperfusion in a swine model. Life Sci. 2016 May 18; Authors: Malagrino PA, Venturini G, Yogi PS, Dariolli R, Padilha K, Kiers B, Gois TC, Motta-Leal-Filho JM, Takimura CK, Girardi AC, Carnevale FC, Canevarolo R, Malheiros DM, de Mattos Zeri AC, Krieger JE, Pereira AC PMID: 27208650 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Mycorrhiza and heavy metal resistant bacteria enhance growth, nutrient uptake and alter metabolic profile of sorghum grown in marginal soil. Chemosphere. 2016 May 17;157:33-41 Authors: Dhawi F, Datta R, Ramakrishna W Abstract The main challenge for plants growing in nutrient poor, contaminated soil is biomass reduction, nutrient deficiency and presence of heavy metals. Our aim is to overcome these challenges using different microbial combinations in mining-impacted soil and focus on their physiological and biochemical impacts on a model plant system, which has multiple applications. In the current study, sorghum BTx623 seedlings grown in mining-impacted soil in greenhouse were subjected to plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB or B) alone, PGPB with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (My), My alone and control group with no treatment. Root biomass and uptake of most of the elements showed significant increase in all treatment groups in comparison with control. Mycorrhiza group showed the best effect followed by My + B and B groups for uptake of majority of the elements by roots. On the contrary, biomass of both shoot and root was more influenced by B treatment than My + B and My treatments. Metabolomics identified compounds whose levels changed in roots of treatment groups significantly in comparison to control. Upregulation of stearic acid, sorbitol, sebacic acid and ferulic acid correlated positively with biomass and uptake of almost all elements. Two biochemical pathways, fatty acid biosynthesis and galactose metabolism, were regulated in all treatment groups. Three common pathways were upregulated only in My and My + B groups. Our results suggest that PGPB enhanced metabolic activities which resulted in increase in element uptake and sorghum root biomass whether accompanied with mycorrhiza or used solely. PMID: 27208643 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Plasma metabolomics combined with lipidomics profiling reveals the potential antipyretic mechanisms of Qingkailing injection in a rat model. Chem Biol Interact. 2016 May 18; Authors: Qin L, Zhang Z, Guo M, Zhang Q, Wang Q, Lu Z, Zhao H, Liu Y, Fu S, Wang M, Gao X Abstract Qingkailing injection (QKLI) has a notable antipyretic effect and is widely used in China as a clinical emergency medicine. To elucidate the pharmacological action thoroughly, following the investigation of the urine metabolome and hypothalamus metabolome, plasma metabolomics combined with lipidomics profiling of the QKLI antipyretic effect in a rat model is described in this paper. Compared with pure metabolomics profiling, this non-targeted plasma metabolomics combined with lipidomics profiling based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography-coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC Q-TOF/MS) could be used for a large-scale detection of features in plasma samples. The results showed that 15 metabolites at the 1 h time point and 19 metabolites at the 2 h time point after QKLI administration were associated with the antipyretic effect of QKLI, including amino acid, phosphatidylcholine and lysophosphatidylcholine. The metabolism pathway analysis revealed that the potential biomarkers, which were important for the antipyretic mechanism of QKLI, were closely responsible for correcting the perturbed pathways of amino acid metabolism and lipid metabolism. In conclusion, the use of complementary UPLC Q-TOF/MS based metabolomics and lipidomics allows for the discovery of new potential plasma biomarkers in the QKLI antipyretic process and the associated pathways, and aided in advancing the understanding of the holism and synergism of the Chinese drug. PMID: 27208622 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Automated resolution of chromatographic signals by independent component analysis-orthogonal signal deconvolution in comprehensive gas chromatography/mass spectrometry-based metabolomics. Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2016 Jul;130:135-141 Authors: Domingo-Almenara X, Perera A, Ramírez N, Brezmes J Abstract Comprehensive gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC×GC-MS) provides a different perspective in metabolomics profiling of samples. However, algorithms for GC×GC-MS data processing are needed in order to automatically process the data and extract the purest information about the compounds appearing in complex biological samples. This study shows the capability of independent component analysis-orthogonal signal deconvolution (ICA-OSD), an algorithm based on blind source separation and distributed in an R package called osd, to extract the spectra of the compounds appearing in GC×GC-MS chromatograms in an automated manner. We studied the performance of ICA-OSD by the quantification of 38 metabolites through a set of 20 Jurkat cell samples analyzed by GC×GC-MS. The quantification by ICA-OSD was compared with a supervised quantification by selective ions, and most of the R(2) coefficients of determination were in good agreement (R(2)>0.90) while up to 24 cases exhibited an excellent linear relation (R(2)>0.95). We concluded that ICA-OSD can be used to resolve co-eluted compounds in GC×GC-MS. PMID: 27208528 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Metabolomics in Prediabetes and Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Diabetes Care. 2016 May;39(5):833-46 Authors: Guasch-Ferré M, Hruby A, Toledo E, Clish CB, Martínez-González MA, Salas-Salvadó J, Hu FB Abstract OBJECTIVE: To conduct a systematic review of cross-sectional and prospective human studies evaluating metabolite markers identified using high-throughput metabolomics techniques on prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE databases through August 2015. We conducted a qualitative review of cross-sectional and prospective studies. Additionally, meta-analyses of metabolite markers, with data estimates from at least three prospective studies, and type 2 diabetes risk were conducted, and multivariable-adjusted relative risks of type 2 diabetes were calculated per study-specific SD difference in a given metabolite. RESULTS: We identified 27 cross-sectional and 19 prospective publications reporting associations of metabolites and prediabetes and/or type 2 diabetes. Carbohydrate (glucose and fructose), lipid (phospholipids, sphingomyelins, and triglycerides), and amino acid (branched-chain amino acids, aromatic amino acids, glycine, and glutamine) metabolites were higher in individuals with type 2 diabetes compared with control subjects. Prospective studies provided evidence that blood concentrations of several metabolites, including hexoses, branched-chain amino acids, aromatic amino acids, phospholipids, and triglycerides, were associated with the incidence of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. We meta-analyzed results from eight prospective studies that reported risk estimates for metabolites and type 2 diabetes, including 8,000 individuals of whom 1,940 had type 2 diabetes. We found 36% higher risk of type 2 diabetes per study-specific SD difference for isoleucine (pooled relative risk 1.36 [1.24-1.48]; I(2) = 9.5%), 36% for leucine (1.36 [1.17-1.58]; I(2) = 37.4%), 35% for valine (1.35 [1.19-1.53]; I(2) = 45.8%), 36% for tyrosine (1.36 [1.19-1.55]; I(2) = 51.6%), and 26% for phenylalanine (1.26 [1.10-1.44]; I(2) = 56%). Glycine and glutamine were inversely associated with type 2 diabetes risk (0.89 [0.81-0.96] and 0.85 [0.82-0.89], respectively; both I(2) = 0.0%). CONCLUSIONS: In studies using high-throughput metabolomics, several blood amino acids appear to be consistently associated with the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. PMID: 27208380 [PubMed - in process]

α-Hydroxybutyric Acid Is a Selective Metabolite Biomarker of Impaired Glucose Tolerance. Diabetes Care. 2016 Apr 5; Authors: Cobb J, Eckhart A, Motsinger-Reif A, Carr B, Groop L, Ferrannini E Abstract OBJECTIVE: Plasma metabolites that distinguish isolated impaired glucose tolerance (iIGT) from isolated impaired fasting glucose (iIFG) may be useful biomarkers to predict IGT, a high-risk state for the development of type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Targeted metabolomics with 23 metabolites previously associated with dysglycemia was performed with fasting plasma samples from subjects without diabetes at time 0 of an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in two observational cohorts: RISC (Relationship Between Insulin Sensitivity and Cardiovascular Disease) and DMVhi (Diabetes Mellitus and Vascular Health Initiative). Odds ratios (ORs) for a one-SD change in the metabolite level were calculated using multiple logistic regression models controlling for age, sex, and BMI to test for associations with iIGT or iIFG versus normal. Selective biomarkers of iIGT were further validated in the Botnia study. RESULTS: α-Hydroxybutyric acid (α-HB) was most strongly associated with iIGT in RISC (OR 2.54 [95% CI 1.86-3.48], P value 5E-9) and DMVhi (2.75 [1.81-4.19], 4E-5) while having no significant association with iIFG. In Botnia, α-HB was selectively associated with iIGT (2.03 [1.65-2.49], 3E-11) and had no significant association with iIFG. Linoleoyl-glycerophosphocholine (L-GPC) and oleic acid were also found to be selective biomarkers of iIGT. In multivariate IGT prediction models, addition of α-HB, L-GPC, and oleic acid to age, sex, BMI, and fasting glucose significantly improved area under the curve in all three cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: α-HB, L-GPC, and oleic acid were shown to be selective biomarkers of iIGT, independent of age, sex, BMI, and fasting glucose, in 4,053 subjects without diabetes from three European cohorts. These biomarkers can be used in predictive models to identify subjects with IGT without performing an OGTT. PMID: 27208342 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

New insight on obesity and adipose-derived stem cells by comprehensive metabolomics. Biochem J. 2016 May 19; Authors: Mastrangelo A, Panadero MI, Pérez LM, Gálvez BG, García A, Barbas C, Rupérez FJ Abstract Obesity affects the functional capability of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) and their effective use in regenerative medicine through mechanisms still poorly understood. Here we employed a multiplatform (LC/MS, CE/MS, GC/MS) metabolomics untargeted approach to investigate the metabolic alteration underlying the inequalities observed in obese-derived ASCs. The metabolic fingerprint (metabolites within the cells) and footprint (metabolites secreted in the culture medium) from humans or mice, obese and non-obese derived ASCs, were characterized by providing valuable information. Metabolites associated to glycolysis, TCA, pentose phosphate pathway and polyol pathway were increased in the footprint of obese-derived human ASCs indicating alterations in the carbohydrate metabolism; whereas from the murine model, deep differences in lipid and amino acid catabolism were highlighted. Therefore, new insights on the ASCs metabolome were provided that enhance our understanding of the processes underlying the ASCs stemness capacity and its relationship with obesity, in different cell models. PMID: 27208167 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Metabolic networks and metabolites underlie associations between maternal glucose during pregnancy and newborn size at birth. Diabetes. 2016 Apr 5; Authors: Scholtens DM, Bain JR, Reisetter AC, Muehlbauer MJ, Nodzenski M, Stevens RD, Ilkayeva O, Lowe LP, Metzger BE, Newgard CB, Lowe WL, HAPO Study Cooperative Research Group. Abstract Maternal metabolites and metabolic networks underlying associations between maternal glucose during pregnancy and newborn birth weight and adiposity demand fuller characterization. We performed targeted and non-targeted gas-chromatography/mass-spectrometry metabolomics on maternal serum collected at fasting and 1-hour following Trutol consumption during an oral glucose tolerance test for 400 Northern European mothers at ∼28 weeks gestation in the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome Study. Amino acids, fatty acids, acylcarnitines and products of lipid metabolism decreased and triglycerides increased following glucose ingestion during the OGTT. Analyses of individual metabolites indicated limited maternal glucose associations at fasting, but broader associations including amino acids, fatty acids, carbohydrates and lipids at 1-hour. Network analyses modeling metabolite correlations provided context for individual metabolite associations and elucidated collective associations of multiple classes of metabolic fuels with newborn size and adiposity, including acylcarnitines, fatty acids, carbohydrates and organic acids. Random forest analyses indicated improved ability to predict newborn size outcomes using maternal metabolomics data beyond traditional risk factors including maternal glucose. Broad scale association of fuel metabolites with maternal glucose is evident during pregnancy, with unique maternal metabolites potentially contributing specifically to newborn birth weight and adiposity. PMID: 27207545 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Metabolomic investigation of regional brain tissue dysfunctions induced by global cerebral ischemia. BMC Neurosci. 2016;17(1):25 Authors: Zhang T, Wang W, Huang J, Liu X, Zhang H, Zhang N Abstract BACKGROUND: To get a broader view of global ischemia-induced cerebral disorders at the metabolic level, a nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomic study was performed to evaluate the metabolic profile changes on regional brain tissues of female and male mice upon bilateral common carotid arteries occlusion (BCCAO) operation. RESULTS: Significant metabolic disorders were observed in both cerebral cortex and hippocampus tissues of the experimental mice upon global cerebral ischemic attack. Multiple amino acids were identified as the dominantly perturbed metabolites. It was also shown that although the metabolic profile change patterns in the brain tissues were quite similar in male and female BCCAO mice, metabolic disorders in the cortex tissues were more severe in the female mice than in the male mice. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, significant changes in amino acid metabolic pathways were confirmed in the early stage of global ischemia. Meanwhile, cerebral metabolic dysfunctions were more severe in the female BCCAO mice than in the male mice, suggesting that gender may play a role in different metabolic responses to the ischemic attack, which may provide an important hypothesis for a better understanding of the clinically observed gender-dependent pathological outcome of cerebral ischemia. PMID: 27206925 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]