Metabolomic Fingerprinting of Blood Samples by Direct Infusion Mass Spectrometry: Application in Alzheimer’s Disease Research

Abstract

Metabolomics is largely employed in numerous biomedical research fields, such as the study of the underlying pathology of diseases, discovery of diagnostic biomarkers, or drug development. Nowadays, the main challenge is to obtain comprehensive and unbiased metabolomic profiles due to the huge complexity, heterogeneity, and dynamism of the metabolome. To this end, mass spectrometry represents a very interesting analytical platform, since the complexity of metabolome may be overcome through the use of different orthogonal separation techniques, including liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, and capillary electrophoresis. Alternatively, direct mass spectrometry analysis has been postulated as a complementary choice to hyphenated approaches. This technique exhibits several advantages such as the ability for high-throughput screening, fast analysis, and wide metabolomic coverage, since there is not exclusion of compounds due to the separation device. The present work explores the utility of metabolomics based on direct infusion mass spectrometry for analyzing blood samples. The most important analytical concerns to be considered are discussed, including sample handling, comprehensive fingerprinting, as well as subsequent identification of metabolites, and global characterization of metabolomic profiles. To conclude, a brief review on the application of these metabolomic platforms in Alzheimer's disease research is also provided.

FERONIA mutation induces high levels of chloroplast‐localized Arabidopsides which are involved in root growth

“…Additionally, there will be bias for certain compounds depending on the mode of separation. Direct infusion mass spectrometry has become a popular method for targeted and untargeted lipidomics profiling as it allows for high‐throughput screening and has a wide metabolite coverage that is not limited by the separation device (González‐Domínguez, ; Gang et al ., ). Here, we adopt direct infusion high‐resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) as a high‐throughput screening method to identify biomarkers highly enriched in fer mutants.…”