Premium
Dominant components of the T horoughbred metabolome characterised by 1 H ‐nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy: A metabolite atlas of common biofluids
Author(s) -
Escalona E. E.,
Leng J.,
Dona A. C.,
Merrifield C. A.,
Holmes E.,
Proudman C. J.,
Swann J. R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
equine veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 2042-3306
pISSN - 0425-1644
DOI - 10.1111/evj.12333
Subject(s) - metabolite , metabolome , metabolomics , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , chemistry , biochemistry , chromatography , stereochemistry
Summary Reasons for performing study Metabonomics is emerging as a powerful tool for disease screening and investigating mammalian metabolism. This study aims to create a metabolic framework by producing a preliminary reference guide for the normal equine metabolic milieu. Objectives To metabolically profile plasma, urine and faecal water from healthy racehorses using high resolution 1 H ‐nuclear magnetic resonance ( NMR ) spectroscopy and to provide a list of dominant metabolites present in each biofluid for the benefit of future research in this area. Study design This study was performed using 7 Thoroughbreds in race training at a single time point. Urine and faecal samples were collected noninvasively and plasma was obtained from samples taken for routine clinical chemistry purposes. Methods Biofluids were analysed using 1 H ‐ NMR spectroscopy. Metabolite assignment was achieved via a range of one‐ and 2‐dimensional experiments. Results A total of 102 metabolites were assigned across the 3 biological matrices. A core metabonome of 14 metabolites was ubiquitous across all biofluids. All biological matrices provided a unique window on different aspects of systematic metabolism. Urine was the most populated metabolite matrix with 65 identified metabolites, 39 of which were unique to this biological compartment. A number of these were related to gut microbial host cometabolism. Faecal samples were the most metabolically variable between animals; acetate was responsible for the majority (28%) of this variation. Short‐chain fatty acids were the predominant features identified within this biofluid by 1 H ‐ NMR spectroscopy. Conclusions Metabonomics provides a platform for investigating complex and dynamic interactions between the host and its consortium of gut microbes and has the potential to uncover markers for health and disease in a variety of biofluids. Inherent variation in faecal extracts along with the relative abundance of microbial‐mammalian metabolites in urine and invasive nature of plasma sampling, infers that urine is the most appropriate biofluid for the purposes of metabonomic analysis.