3 research outputs found
Newborn Meconium and Urinary Metabolome Response to Maternal Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Preliminary Case–Control Study
Recently,
the number of women suffering from gestational diabetes
mellitus (GDM) has risen dramatically. GDM attracts increasing attention
due to its potential harm to the heath of both the fetus and the mother.
We designed this case–control study to investigate the metabolome
response of newborn meconium and urine to maternal GDM. GDM mothers
(<i>n</i> = 142) and healthy controls (<i>n</i> = 197) were recruited during June–July 2012 in Xiamen, China.
The newborns’ metabolic profiles were acquired using liquid
chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The data showed that
meconium and urine metabolome patterns clearly discriminated GDM cases
from controls. Fourteen meconium metabolic biomarkers and three urinary
metabolic biomarkers were tentatively identified for GDM. Altered
levels of various endogenous biomarkers revealed that GDM may induce
disruptions in lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and purine
metabolism. An unbalanced lipid pattern is suspected to be a GDM-specific
feature. Furthermore, the relationships between the potential biomarkers
and GDM risk were evaluated by binary logistic regression and receiver
operating characteristic analysis. A combined model of nine meconium
biomarkers showed a great potential in diagnosing GDM-induced disorders
Metabolomic Analysis Reveals a Unique Urinary Pattern in Normozoospermic Infertile Men
Normozoospermic
infertility has become a common and important health
problem worldwide. We designed this metabolomic case-control study
to investigate the possible mechanism and urinary biomarkers of normozoospermic
infertility. Normozoospermic infertile cases (<i>n</i> =
71) and fertile controls (<i>n</i> = 47) were recruited.
A urinary metabolome pattern could discriminate normozoospermic infertile
cases from fertile controls. A total of 37 potential biomarkers were
identified; these have functionally important roles in energy production,
antioxidation, and hormone regulation in spermatogenesis. This gave
rise to a combined biomarker pattern of leukotriene E<sub>4</sub>,
3-hydroxypalmitoylcarnitine, aspartate, xanthosine, and methoxytryptophan
pointing to a diagnostic capability (AUC = 0.901, sensitivity = 85.7%,
and specificity = 86.8%) in a ROC model; these markers may highlight
keynote events of normozoospermic infertility. Stalled medium- and
long-chain fatty acid metabolism with improved ketone body metabolism,
plus decreased levels of malate and aspartate could result in citrate
cycle alterations via a malate-aspartate shuttle in ATP generation
in spermatogenesis. Inhibitory alterations in the normal hormone-secreting
activity in spermatogenesis were suggested in normozoospermic infertility.
Folate deficiency and oxidative stress may jointly impact infertile
patients. The disruption of eicosanoid metabolism and xanthine oxidase
system, which were tightly associated with energy metabolism and oxidative
stress, was also a potential underlying mechanism. In addition, depression
might be associated with normozoospermic infertility via neural activity-related
metabolites. This study suggests that the urinary metabolome can be
used to differentiate normozoospermic infertile men from fertile individuals.
Potential metabolic biomarkers derived from these analyses might be
used to diagnose what remains a somewhat idiopathic condition and
provide functional insights into its pathogenesis
Urinary Metabolomics Revealed Arsenic Internal Dose-Related Metabolic Alterations: A Proof-of-Concept Study in a Chinese Male Cohort
Urinary
biomonitoring provides the most accurate arsenic exposure
assessment; however, to improve the risk assessment, arsenic-related
metabolic biomarkers are required to understand the internal processes
that may be perturbed, which may, in turn, link the exposure to a
specific health outcome. This study aimed to investigate arsenic-related
urinary metabolome changes and identify dose-dependent metabolic biomarkers
as a proof-of-concept of the information that could be obtained by
combining metabolomics and targeted analyses. Urinary arsenic species
such as inorganic arsenic, methylarsonic acid, dimethylarsinic acid
and arsenobetaine were quantified using high performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC)-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry in a Chinese adult
male cohort. Urinary metabolomics was conducted using HPLC-quadrupole
time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Arsenic-related metabolic biomarkers
were investigated by comparing the samples of the first and fifth
quintiles of arsenic exposure classifications using a partial least-squares
discriminant model. After the adjustments for age, body mass index,
smoking, and alcohol consumption, five potential biomarkers related
to arsenic exposure (i.e., testosterone, guanine, hippurate, acetyl-<i>N</i>-formyl-5-methoxykynurenÂamine, and serine) were identified
from 61 candidate metabolites; these biomarkers suggested that endocrine
disruption and oxidative stress were associated with urinary arsenic
levels. Testosterone, guanine, and hippurate showed a high or moderate
ability to discriminate the first and fifth quintiles of arsenic exposure
with area-under-curve (AUC) values of 0.89, 0.87, and 0.83, respectively; their combination
pattern showed an AUC value of 0.91 with a sensitivity of 88% and
a specificity of 80%. Arsenic dose-dependent AUC value changes were
also observed. This study demonstrated that metabolomics can be used
to investigate arsenic-related biomarkers of metabolic changes; the
dose-dependent trends of arsenic exposure to these biomarkers may
translate into the potential use of metabolic biomarkers in arsenic
risk assessment. Since this was a proof-of-concept study, more research
is needed to confirm the relationships we observed between arsenic
exposure and biochemical changes