Abstract
As an individual's metabolism reflects health and disease states well, metabolomics holds a vast potential in biomedical applications. However, normal physiological factors, such as age, can also influence metabolism, challenging the establishment of disease-specific metabolic aberrations. Here, we examined how physiological and diet-related factors drive variance in the metabolism of healthy pet dogs. We analysed 2068 serum samples using a canine nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy-based metabolomics platform. With generalized linear models, we discovered that age, breed, sex, sterilization, diet type and fasting time significantly affected the canine metabolite profiles. Especially, breed and age caused considerable variation in the metabolite concentrations, and breeds with very different body conformations systematically differed in several lipid measurands. Our results enhance the understanding how normal physiological factors influence canine metabolism, aid accurate interpretation of the NMR results, and suggest the NMR platform might be applied in identifying aberrations in nutrient absorption and metabolism.
Highlights
Metabolomics offers an extensive snapshot of an individual’s current state of metabolism by measuring the intermediate and end product molecules of metabolism, metabolites [1,2]
We investigated the effects of breed, age, sex, sterilization, diet and fasting time before blood sampling on a total of 119 measurands: nine primary, one combined and six ratio amino acid measurands; two fluid balance-related measurands; five glycolysis-related measurands; one inflammation-related measurand; six cholesterol measurands; three triglyceride measurands; seven fatty acids in their absolute and relative units, four combined fatty acids measurands in their absolute and relative (%) units, the total concentration of fatty acids, and one ratio fatty acid measurand; and 24 high-density lipoprotein (HDL), 17 low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and 21 very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) particle measurands
The effects were largely measurand/metabolite group dependent, but age and breed caused the most prominent changes in the measurand levels. These results indicate that the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics method is a valuable tool for metabolic studies in basic physiology and form a solid foundation for canine metabolomics studies examining disease associations
Summary
Metabolomics offers an extensive snapshot of an individual’s current state of metabolism by measuring the intermediate and end product molecules of metabolism, metabolites [1,2]. The metabolome is affected by several internal factors, including gene and protein activity, and external factors, including diet and environmental effects, and their interplay together with royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos R. This places metabolomics in a key position for understanding multi- 2 factorial diseases and the complex effects, how physiological factors can affect health [3]. It is important to distinguish metabolic changes caused by physiological variation from pathological disease-related metabolic alterations [4,5]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
