Cell Metabolomics

Abstract

Metabolomics technologies enable the examination and identification of endogenous biochemical reaction products, revealing information on the precise metabolic pathways and processes within a living cell. Metabolism is either directly or indirectly involved with every aspect of cell function, and metabolomics is thus believed to be a reflection of the phenotype of any cell. Metabolomics analysis of cells has many potential applications and advantages compared to currently used methods in the postgenomics era. Cell metabolomics is an emerging field that addresses fundamental biological questions and allows one to observe metabolic phenomena in cells. Cell metabolomics consists of four sequential steps: (a) sample preparation and extraction, (b) metabolic profiles of low-weight metabolites based on MS or NMR spectroscopy techniques, (c) pattern recognition approaches and bioinformatics data analysis, (d) metabolites identification resulting in putative biomarkers and molecular targets. The biomarkers are eventually placed in metabolic networks to provide insight on the cellular biochemical phenomena. This article analyzes the recent developments in use of metabolomics to characterize and interpret the cellular metabolome in a wide range of pathophysiological and clinical contexts, and the putative roles of the endogenous small molecule metabolites in this new frontier of postgenomics biology and systems medicine.

Applications of high‐resolution magic angle spinning MRS in biomedical studies I—cell line and animal models

“…Furthermore, complementary to genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics, the field of metabolomics, currently investigated by MRS alongside mass spectrometry, is an emerging innovative tool for drug developments, biomarker discoveries and for understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms of diseases . Thus, MRS offers the opportunity to identify and quantify metabolites within cells and tissue specimens, and assists in the understanding and construction of metabolic profiles of benign or diseased tissues or cell lines to visualize the overall metabolic changes within the metabolome …”

Analyses of Gingival Adhesion Molecules in Periodontitis: Theoretical In Silico, Comparative In Vivo, and Explanatory In Vitro Models

“…Neutrophilic transmigration begins with changes in endothelial cells, most notably in the lining of these cells of the postcapillary venules. The expression of leukocyte adhesion molecules and display of neutrophil‐activating chemokines were increased 12,35‐38 . While rolling on the endothelium, neutrophils encounter and interact with several surface‐bound chemokines on endothelial cells.…”

“…Despite the novelty of the present findings, the applied immunocytochemical method cannot give additional information about the underlying mechanism(s), and therefore, the results should be read with caution. To visualize the interactions between neutrophilic peptides and epithelial adhesion molecules, Omics studies with in silico and bioinformatics‐based approaches can be applied 38 , 39 . Additionally, it is noted that multi‐omics studies integrating data from gene structure to expression to protein variations offer ways forward for a deeper understanding of the systems biology of periodontitis 40 …”

Towards Novel Anti-tumor Strategies for Hepatic Cancer: ɛ-Viniferin in Combination with Vincristine Displays Pharmacodynamic Synergy at Lower Doses in HepG2 Cells

“…This study was carried out in a single cell type and thus warrants further replication regarding the effects of viniferin in future studies. Additionally, we suggest that the discovery of novel hepatic carcinoma treatments can benefit from considering other molecular intermediary pharmacodynamic end-points such as microRNAs (Hua et al, 2012;Song et al, 2013) and novel postgenomics methodologies such as cell metabolomics (Zhang et al, 2013).…”