1H High-resolution Magic Angle Spinning Research Articles

1H NMR spectroscopic characterisation of HepG2 cells as a model metabolic system for toxicology studies

The immortalised human hepatocellular HepG2 cell line is commonly used for toxicology studies as an alternative to animal testing due to its characteristic liver-distinctive functions. However, little is known about the baseline metabolic changes within these cells upon toxin exposure. We have applied 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to characterise the biochemical composition of HepG2 cells at baseline and post-exposure to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Metabolic profiles of live cells, cell extracts, and their spent media supernatants were obtained using 1H high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR and 1H NMR spectroscopic techniques. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (O-PLS-DA) was used to characterise the metabolites that differed between the baseline and H2O2 treated groups. The results showed that H2O2 caused alterations to 10 metabolites, including acetate, glutamate, lipids, phosphocholine, and creatine in the live cells; 25 metabolites, including acetate, alanine, adenosine diphosphate (ADP), aspartate, citrate, creatine, glucose, glutamine, glutathione, and lactate in the cell extracts, and 22 metabolites, including acetate, alanine, formate, glucose, pyruvate, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, tyrosine, and valine in the cell supernatants. At least 10 biochemical pathways associated with these metabolites were disrupted upon toxin exposure, including those involved in energy, lipid, and amino acid metabolism. Our findings illustrate the ability of NMR-based metabolic profiling of immortalised human cells to detect metabolic effects on central metabolism due to toxin exposure. The established data sets will enable more subtle biochemical changes in the HepG2 model cell system to be identified in future toxicity testing.

2D 1H sLASER Long-TE and 3D 31P Chemical Shift Imaging at 3 T for Monitoring Fasting-Induced Changes in Brain Tumor Tissue.

Emerging evidence suggests that fasting could play a key role in cancer treatment. Its metabolic effects on gliomas require further investigation. To design a multi-voxel 1H/31P MR-spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) protocol for noninvasive metabolic monitoring of cerebral, fasting-induced changes on an individual patient/tumor level, and to assess its technical reliability/reproducibility. Prospective. MRS phantom. Twenty-two patients (mean age = 61, 6 female) with suspected WHO grade II-IV glioma examined before and after 72-hour-fasting prior to biopsy/resection. 3-T, 1H decoupled 3D 31P MRSI, 2D 1H sLASER MRSI at an echo time of 144 msec, 2D 1H MRSI (as water reference), T1-weighted, T1-weighted contrast-enhanced, T2-weighted, and FLAIR. sLASER and PRESS sequences were used for phantom measurements. Phantom measurements and spectral simulations were performed with various echo-times for protocol optimization. In vivo spectral analyses were conducted using LCModel and AMARES, obtaining quality/fitting parameters (linewidth, signal-to-noise-ratio, and uncertainty measures of fitting) and metabolite intensities. The volume of glioma sub-regions was calculated and correlated with MRS findings. Ex-vivo spectra of necrotic tumor tissues were obtained using high-resolution magic-angle spinning (HR-MAS) technique. Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Bland-Altman plots, and coefficient of variation were used for repeatability analysis of quality/fitting parameters and metabolite concentrations. Spearman ρ correlation for the concentration of ketone bodies with volumes of glioma sub-regions was determined. A P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. 1H and 31P repeatability measures were highly consistent between the two sessions. β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate were detectable (fitting-uncertainty <50%) in glioma sub-regions of all patients who completed the 72-hour-fasting cycle. β-hydroxybutyrate accumulation was significantly correlated with the necrotic/non-enhancing tumor core volume (ρ = 0.81) and validated using ex-vivo 1H HR-MAS. We propose a comprehensive MRS protocol that may be used for monitoring cerebral, fasting-induced changes in patients with glioma. 1 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 4.

Metabolome in Tibialis and Soleus Muscles in Wild-Type and Pin1 Knockout Mice through High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.

Skeletal muscles are heterogenous tissues composed of different myofiber types that can be classified as slow oxidative, fast oxidative, and fast glycolytic which are distinguished on the basis of their contractile and metabolic properties. Improving oxidative metabolism in skeletal muscles can prevent metabolic diseases and plays a protective role against muscle wasting in a number of neuromuscular diseases. Therefore, achieving a detailed understanding of the factors that regulate myofiber metabolic properties might provide new therapeutic opportunities for these diseases. Here, we investigated whether peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase NIMA-interacting 1 (PIN1) is involved in the control of myofiber metabolic behaviors. Indeed, PIN1 controls glucose and lipid metabolism in a number of tissues, and it is also abundant in adult skeletal muscles; however, its role in the control of energy homeostasis in this tissue is still to be defined. To start clarifying this topic, we compared the metabolome of the tibialis anterior muscle (mainly glycolytic) and soleus muscle (oxidative) in wild-type and Pin1 knockout mice with High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning (HR-MAS) NMR on intact tissues. Our analysis reveals a clear demarcation between the metabolomes in the two types of muscles and allows us to decode a signature able to discriminate the glycolytic versus oxidative muscle phenotype. We also detected some changes in Pin1-depleted muscles that suggest a role for PIN1 in regulating the metabolic phenotype of skeletal muscles.

Application of 1H HR-MAS NMR-Based Metabolite Fingerprinting of Marine Microalgae

Natural products from the marine environment as well as microalgae, have been known for the complexity of the metabolites they produce due to their adaptability to different environmental conditions, which has been an inexhaustible source of several bioactive properties, such as antioxidant, anti-tumor, and antimicrobial. This study aims to characterize the main metabolites of three species of microalgae (Nannochloropsis oceanica, Chaetoceros muelleri, and Conticribra weissflogii), which have important applications in the biofuel and nutrition industries, by 1H High-resolution magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (1H HR-MAS NMR), a method which is non-destructive, is highly reproducible, and requires minimal sample preparation. Even though the three species were found in the same ecosystem and a superior production of lipid compounds was observed, important differences were identified in relation to the production of specialized metabolites. These distinct properties favor the use of these compounds as leaders in the development of new bioactive compounds, especially against environmental, human, and animal pathogens (One Health), and demonstrate their potential in the development of alternatives for aquaculture.

Maternal exposure to polystyrene microplastics alters placental metabolism in mice.

The rapid growth in the worldwide use of plastics has resulted in a vast accumulation of microplastics in the air, soil and water. The impact of these microplastics on pregnancy and fetal development remains largely unknown. In pregnant mice, we recently demonstrated that exposure to micro- and nanoplastics throughout gestation resulted in significant fetal growth restriction. One possible explanation for reduced fetal growth is abnormal placental metabolism. To evaluate the effect of maternal exposure to microplastics on placental metabolism. In the present study, CD-1 pregnant mice were exposed to 5 μm polystyrene microplastics in filtered drinking water at one of four concentrations (0 ng/L (controls), 102 ng/L, 104 ng/L, 106 ng/L) throughout gestation (n = 7-11/group). At embryonic day 17.5, placental tissue samples were collected (n = 28-44/group). Metabolite profiles were determined using 1H high-resolution magic angle spinning magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The relative concentration of lysine (p = 0.003) and glucose (p < 0.0001) in the placenta were found to decrease with increasing microplastic concentrations, with a significant reduction at the highest exposure concentration. Multivariate analysis identified shifts in the metabolic profile with MP exposure and pathway analysis identified perturbations in the biotin metabolism, lysine degradation, and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis pathways. Maternal exposure to microplastics resulted in significant alterations in placental metabolism. This study highlights the potential impact of microplastic exposure on pregnancy outcomes and that efforts should be made to minimize exposure to plastics, particularly during pregnancy.

Leaf tissue metabolomics fingerprinting of Citronella gongonha Mart. by 1H HR-MAS NMR

This research characterizes key metabolites in the leaf from Citronella gongonha Martius (Mart.) Howard (Cardiopteridaceae). All metabolites were assessed in intact leaf tissue by proton (1H) high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy integrated with the principal component analysis (PCA) to depict molecular association with the seasonal change. The major ‘known unknown’ metabolites detected in 1H HR-MAS NMR were derivatives of flavonoid, polyphenolic and monoterpenoid compounds such as kaempferol-3-O-dihexoside, caffeoyl glucoside (2), 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid (3), 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid (4), kingiside (5), 8-epi-kingisidic acid (6), (7α)-7-O-methylmorroniside (7), (7β)-7-O-methylmorroniside (8) and alpigenoside (9) together with the universally occurring sucrose (10), α-glucoses (11, 12), alanine (13), and fatty (linolenic) acid (14). Several of the major metabolites (1, 2–9) were additionally confirmed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). In regard with the PCA results, metabolites 1, 2–9 and 14 were influenced by seasonal variation and/or from further (a) biotic environmental conditions. The findings in this work indicate that C. gongonha Mart. is an effective medicinal plant by preserving particularly compounds 2, 3–9 in abundant amounts. Because of close susceptibility with seasonal shift and ecological trends, further longitudinal studies are needed to realize the physiology and mechanism involved in the production of these and new metabolites in this plant under controlled conditions. Also, future studies are recommended to classify different epimers, especially of the phenolics and monoterpenoids in the given plant.

Endothelial nitric oxide deficiency results in abnormal placental metabolism

Placental metabolism determines the amount of nutrients available to the fetus and may be altered in pregnancies complicated by fetal growth restriction (FGR). To study which metabolites are associated with FGR, we performed 1H high-resolution magic angle spinning magnetic resonance spectroscopy of placental tissue from endothelial nitric oxide synthase knockout (eNOS KO) mice, a model of FGR, and C57BL/6J controls at embryonic day 17.5 (n = 24/genotype). The relative concentration of glucose was increased in the placentas of eNOS KO mice compared to controls (p = 0.006). This study highlights the potential for glucose as a biomarker of abnormal placental metabolism that leads to FGR.

NMR-Based Metabolomics Identify Metabolic Change in Spleen of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura Patients.

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a common hematological disease and the abnormal platelet destruction in the spleen is a critical pathological mechanism for ITP. However, the metabolomic change in the spleen caused by ITP is still unclear. In the present study, the metabolomic information of 18 ITP and 20 normal spleen samples were detected by using 1H high-resolution magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy (1H MAS NMR). Compared with normal spleen, the concentrations of acetate, alanine, glutamine, glycerol, isoleucine, lysine, valine, phenylalanine, leucine, and methanol in ITP spleen tissue were elevated and 3-hydroxybutyric acid, ascorbate, asparagine, ethanol, glycogen, low-density lipoprotein, malonate, myo-inositol, glycerophosphocholine, pyroglutamate, and taurine were decreased. Amino acids metabolic pathways, such as branched-chain amino acids pathway, were identified as the main involved pathways based on enrichment analysis. The decrease in taurine level in the spleen was the most obvious metabolic signature involving ITP with high sensitivity and specificity to distinguish the spleen of ITP from the normal (CI: 0.825–0.982). Notably, the level of taurine in the spleen was negatively correlated with the efficacy of splenectomy (r = 0.622, p = 0.006). Collectively, the data from our study revealed previously unknown ITP-related metabolomic changes in the spleen and found a potential diagnostic and efficacy-predictive biomarker for ITP treatment.

Metabolomic analysis of endometrial cancer by high-resolution magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy.

To analyze endometrial metabolite profiles between patients with endometrial cancer and controls. Seventeen (17) women with endometrium cancer and 18 controls were enrolled in this study. 1H HR-MAS (High Resolution-Magic Angle Spinning) NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectroscopy data obtained from endometrial tissue samples of patients with endometrial cancer and control group were analyzed with bioinformatics methods. Principal component analysis (PCA) and the partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) score plots obtained with the multivariate statistical analysis of pre-processed spectral data shows a separation between the samples from patients with endometrial cancer and controls. Analysis results suggest that the levels of lactate, glucose, o-phosphoethanolamine, choline, glycerophosphocholine, phosphocholine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, glutamate, glutamine, n-acetyltyrosine, methionine, taurine, alanine, aspartate and phenylalanine are increased in patients with endometrial cancer compared to the controls. The metabolomics signature of patients with endometrial cancer is different from that of benign endometrial tissue.

Ex Vivo High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning (HRMAS) 1H NMR Spectroscopy for Early Prostate Cancer Detection

Simple SummaryProstate cancer is the second leading cancer diagnosed in men worldwide. Current diagnostic standards lack sufficient reliability in detecting and characterizing prostate cancer. Due to the cancer’s multifocality, prostate biopsies are associated with high numbers of false negatives. Whereas several studies have already shown the potential of metabolomic information for PCa detection and characterization, in this study, we focused on evaluating its predictive power for future PCa diagnosis. In our study, metabolomic information differed substantially between histobenign patients based on their risk for receiving a future PCa diagnosis, making metabolomic information highly valuable for the individualization of active surveillance strategies.The aim of our study was to assess ex vivo HRMAS (high-resolution magic angle spinning) 1H NMR spectroscopy as a diagnostic tool for early PCa detection by testing whether metabolomic alterations in prostate biopsy samples can predict future PCa diagnosis. In a primary prospective study (04/2006–10/2018), fresh biopsy samples of 351 prostate biopsy patients were NMR spectroscopically analyzed (Bruker 14.1 Tesla, Billerica, MA, USA) and histopathologically evaluated. Three groups of 16 patients were compared: group 1 and 2 represented patients whose NMR scanned biopsy was histobenign, but patients in group 1 were diagnosed with cancer before the end of the study period, whereas patients in group 2 remained histobenign. Group 3 included cancer patients. Single-metabolite concentrations and metabolomic profiles were not only able to separate histobenign and malignant prostate tissue but also to differentiate between samples of histobenign patients who received a PCa diagnosis in the following years and those who remained histobenign. Our results support the hypothesis that metabolomic alterations significantly precede histologically visible changes, making metabolomic information highly beneficial for early PCa detection. Thanks to its predictive power, metabolomic information can be very valuable for the individualization of PCa active surveillance strategies.

1H HR-MAS NMR Based Metabolic Profiling of Lung Cancer Cells with Induced and De-Induced Cisplatin Resistance to Reveal Metabolic Resistance Adaptations.

Cisplatin (cisPt) is an important drug that is used against various cancers, including advanced lung cancer. However, drug resistance is still a major ongoing problem and its investigation is of paramount interest. Here, a high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR study is presented deciphering the metabolic profile of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells and metabolic adaptations at different levels of induced cisPt-resistance, as well as in their de-induced counterparts (cells cultivated in absence of cisPt). In total, fifty-three metabolites were identified and quantified in the 1H-HR-MAS NMR cell spectra. Metabolic adaptations to cisPt-resistance were detected, which correlated with the degree of resistance. Importantly, de-induced cell lines demonstrated similar metabolic adaptations as the corresponding cisPt-resistant cell lines. Metabolites predominantly changed in cisPt resistant cells and their de-induced counterparts include glutathione and taurine. Characteristic metabolic patterns for cisPt resistance may become relevant as biomarkers in cancer medicine.

Nanostructure and Molecular-Level Characterization of Aminoalkyl Methacrylate Copolymer and the Impact on Drug Solubilization Ability.

The effects of pH changes and saccharin (SAC) addition on the nanostructure and mobility of the cationic aminoalkyl methacrylate copolymer Eudragit E PO (EUD-E) and its drug solubilization ability were investigated. Small-angle X-ray scattering performed using synchrotron radiation and atomic force microscopy showed that the EUD-E nanostructure, which has a size of approximately several nanometers, changed from a random coil structure at low pH (pH 4.0-5.0) to a partially folded structure at high pH (pH 5.5-6.5). The EUD-E also formed a partially folded structure in a wide pH range of 4.5-6.5 when SAC was present, and the coil-to-globule transition was moderate with pH increase, compared with that when SAC was absent. The equilibrium solubility of the neutral drug naringenin (NAR) was enhanced in the EUD-E solution and further increased as the pH increased. The enlargement of the hydrophobic region of EUD-E in association with the coil-to-globule transition led to efficient solubilization of NAR. The interaction with SAC enhanced the mobility of the EUD-E chains in the hydrophobic region of EUD-E, resulting in changes in the drug-solubilizing ability. 1H high-resolution magic-angle spinning NMR measurements revealed that the solubilized NAR in the partially folded structure of EUD-E showed higher molecular mobility in the presence of SAC than in the absence of SAC. This study highlighted that solution pH and the presence of SAC significantly changed the drug solubilization ability of EUD-E, followed by changes in the EUD-E nanostructure, including its hydrophobic region.

Complementary Nuclear Magnetic Resonance-Based Metabolomics Approaches for Glioma Biomarker Identification in a Drosophila melanogaster Model.

Human malignant gliomas are the most common type of primary brain tumor. Composed of glial cells and their precursors, they are aggressive and highly invasive, leading to a poor prognosis. Due to the difficulty of surgically removing tumors and their resistance to treatments, novel therapeutic approaches are needed to improve patient life expectancy and comfort. Drosophila melanogaster is a compelling genetic model to better understanding human neurological diseases owing to its high conservation in signaling pathways and cellular content of the brain. Here, glioma has been induced in Drosophila by co-activating the epidermal growth factor receptor and the phosphatidyl-inositol-3 kinase signaling pathways. Complementary nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques were used to obtain metabolic profiles in the third instar larvae brains. Fresh organs were directly studied by 1H high resolution-magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR, and brain extracts were analyzed by solution-state 1H-NMR. Statistical analyses revealed differential metabolic signatures, impacted metabolic pathways, and glioma biomarkers. Each method was efficient to determine biomarkers. The highlighted metabolites including glucose, myo-inositol, sarcosine, glycine, alanine, and pyruvate for solution-state NMR and proline, myo-inositol, acetate, and glucose for HR-MAS show very good performances in discriminating samples according to their nature with data mining based on receiver operating characteristic curves. Combining results allows for a more complete view of induced disturbances and opens the possibility of deciphering the biochemical mechanisms of these tumors. The identified biomarkers provide a means to rebalance specific pathways through targeted metabolic therapy and to study the effects of pharmacological treatments using Drosophila as a model organism.

Integrative analysis of physiological responses to high fat feeding with diffusion tensor images and neurochemical profiles of the mouse brain

BackgroundObesity proceeds with important physiological and microstructural alterations in the brain, but the precise relationships between the diet and feeding status, its physiological responses, and the observed neuroimaging repercussions, remain elusive. Here, we implemented a mouse model of high fat diet (HFD) feeding to explore specific associations between diet, feeding status, phenotypic and endocrine repercussions, and the resulting microstructural and metabolic alterations in the brain, as detected by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neurochemical metabolic profiling.MethodsBrain DTI images were acquired from adult male C57BL6/J mice after 6 weeks of HFD, or standard diet (SD) administrations, both under the fed, and overnight fasted conditions. Metabolomic profiles of the cortex (Ctx), hippocampus (Hipc), and hypothalamus (Hyp) were determined by 1H high-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) spectroscopy, in cerebral biopsies dissected after microwave fixation. Mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA) maps, and HRMAS profiles were complemented with determinations of phenotypic alterations and plasma levels of appetite-related hormones, measured by indirect calorimetry and multiplex assays, respectively. We used Z-score and alternating least squares scaling (ALSCAL) analysis to investigate specific associations between diet and feeding status, physiological, and imaging parameters.ResultsHFD induced significant increases in body weight and the plasma levels of glucose and fatty acids in the fed and fasted conditions, as well as higher cerebral MD (Ctx, Hipc, Hyp), FA (Hipc), and mobile saturated fatty acids resonances (Ctx, Hipc, Hyp). Z-score and ASLCAL analysis identified the precise associations between physiological and imaging variables.ConclusionsThe present study reveals that diet and feeding conditions elicit prominent effects on specific imaging and spectroscopic parameters of the mouse brain that can be associated to the alterations in phenotypic and endocrine variables. Together, present results disclose a neuro-inflammatory response to HFD, characterized primarily by vasogenic edema and compensatory responses in osmolyte concentrations.

Unique Metabolomic Profile of Skeletal Muscle in Chronic Limb Threatening Ischemia.

Chronic limb threatening ischemia (CLTI) is the most severe manifestation of peripheral atherosclerosis. Patients with CLTI have poor muscle quality and function and are at high risk for limb amputation and death. The objective of this study was to interrogate the metabolome of limb muscle from CLTI patients. To accomplish this, a prospective cohort of CLTI patients undergoing either a surgical intervention (CLTI Pre-surgery) or limb amputation (CLTI Amputation), as well as non-peripheral arterial disease (non-PAD) controls were enrolled. Gastrocnemius muscle biopsy specimens were obtained and processed for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics analyses using solution state NMR on extracted aqueous and organic phases and 1H high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) on intact muscle specimens. CLTI Amputation specimens displayed classical features of ischemic/hypoxic metabolism including accumulation of succinate, fumarate, lactate, alanine, and a significant decrease in the pyruvate/lactate ratio. CLTI Amputation muscle also featured aberrant amino acid metabolism marked by elevated branched chain amino acids. Finally, both Pre-surgery and Amputation CLTI muscles exhibited pronounced accumulation of lipids, suggesting the presence of myosteatosis, including cholesterol, triglycerides, and saturated fatty acids. Taken together, these metabolite differences add to a growing body of literature that have characterized profound metabolic disturbance’s in the failing ischemic limb of CLTI patients.

Sampling Method Affects HR-MAS NMR Spectra of Healthy Caprine Brain Biopsies.

The metabolic profiling of tissue biopsies using high-resolution–magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy may be influenced by experimental factors such as the sampling method. Therefore, we compared the effects of two different sampling methods on the metabolome of brain tissue obtained from the brainstem and thalamus of healthy goats by 1H HR-MAS NMR spectroscopy—in vivo-harvested biopsy by a minimally invasive stereotactic approach compared with postmortem-harvested sample by dissection with a scalpel. Lactate and creatine were elevated, and choline-containing compounds were altered in the postmortem compared to the in vivo-harvested samples, demonstrating rapid changes most likely due to sample ischemia. In addition, in the brainstem samples acetate and inositols, and in the thalamus samples ƴ-aminobutyric acid, were relatively increased postmortem, demonstrating regional differences in tissue degradation. In conclusion, in vivo-harvested brain biopsies show different metabolic alterations compared to postmortem-harvested samples, reflecting less tissue degradation. Sampling method and brain region should be taken into account in the analysis of metabolic profiles. To be as close as possible to the actual situation in the living individual, it is desirable to use brain samples obtained by stereotactic biopsy whenever possible.

Characterization of dysregulated glutamine metabolism in human glioma tissue with 1H NMR

Gliomas are one of the most common types of brain tumors. Given low survival and high treatment resistance rates, particularly for high grade gliomas, there is a need for specific biomarkers that can be used to stratify patients for therapy and monitor treatment response. Recent work has demonstrated that metabolic reprogramming, often mediated by inflammation, can lead to an upregulation of glutamine as an energy source for cancer cells. As a result, glutamine pathways are an emerging pharmacologic target. The goal of this pilot study was to characterize changes in glutamine metabolism and inflammation in human glioma samples and explore the use of glutamine as a potential biomarker. 1H high-resolution magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance spectra were acquired from ex vivo glioma tissue (n = 16, grades II–IV) to quantify metabolite concentrations. Tumor inflammatory markers were quantified using electrochemiluminescence assays. Glutamate, glutathione, lactate, and alanine, as well as interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-8, increased significantly in samples from grade IV gliomas compared to grades II and III (p ≤ .05). Following dimension reduction of the inflammatory markers using probabilistic principal component analysis, we observed that glutamine, alanine, glutathione, and lactate were positively associated with the first inflammatory marker principal component. Our findings support the hypothesis that glutamine may be a key marker for glioma progression and indicate that inflammation is associated with changes in glutamine metabolism. These results motivate further in vivo investigation of glutamine as a biomarker for tumor progression and treatment response.

Spatially-resolved metabolic profiling of living Drosophila in neurodegenerative conditions using 1H magic angle spinning NMR

Drosophila flies are versatile animal models for the study of gene mutations in neuronal pathologies. Their small size allows performing in vivo Magic Angle Spinning (MAS) experiments to obtain high-resolution 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra. Here, we use spatially-resolved 1H high-resolution MAS NMR to investigate in vivo metabolite contents in different segments of the fly body. A comparative study of metabolic changes was performed for three neurodegenerative disorders: two cell-specific neuronal and glial models of Huntington disease (HD) and a model of glutamate excitotoxicity. It is shown that these pathologies are characterized by specific and sometimes anatomically localized variations in metabolite concentrations. In two cases, the modifications of 1H MAS NMR spectra localized in fly heads were significant enough to allow the creation of a predictive model.

Neocortical tissue recovery in severe congenital obstructive hydrocephalus after intraventricular administration of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells

BackgroundIn obstructive congenital hydrocephalus, cerebrospinal fluid accumulation is associated with high intracranial pressure and the presence of periventricular edema, ischemia/hypoxia, damage of the white matter, and glial reactions in the neocortex. The viability and short time effects of a therapy based on bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) have been evaluated in such pathological conditions in the hyh mouse model.MethodsBM-MSC obtained from mice expressing fluorescent mRFP1 protein were injected into the lateral ventricle of hydrocephalic hyh mice at the moment they present a very severe form of the disease. The effect of transplantation in the neocortex was compared with hydrocephalic hyh mice injected with the vehicle and non-hydrocephalic littermates. Neural cell populations and the possibility of transdifferentiation were analyzed. The possibility of a tissue recovering was investigated using 1H High-Resolution Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H HR-MAS NMR) spectroscopy, thus allowing the detection of metabolites/osmolytes related with hydrocephalus severity and outcome in the neocortex. An in vitro assay to simulate the periventricular astrocyte reaction conditions was performed using BM-MSC under high TNFα level condition. The secretome in the culture medium was analyzed in this assay.ResultsFour days after transplantation, BM-MSC were found undifferentiated and scattered into the astrocyte reaction present in the damaged neocortex white matter. Tissue rejection to the integrated BM-MSC was not detected 4 days after transplantation. Hyh mice transplanted with BM-MSC showed a reduction in the apoptosis in the periventricular neocortex walls, suggesting a neuroprotector effect of the BM-MSC in these conditions. A decrease in the levels of metabolites/osmolytes in the neocortex, such as taurine and neuroexcytotoxic glutamate, also indicated a tissue recovering. Under high TNFα level condition in vitro, BM-MSC showed an upregulation of cytokine and protein secretion that may explain homing, immunomodulation, and vascular permeability, and therefore the tissue recovering.ConclusionsBM-MSC treatment in severe congenital hydrocephalus is viable and leads to the recovery of the severe neurodegenerative conditions in the neocortex. NMR spectroscopy allows to follow-up the effects of stem cell therapy in hydrocephalus.

Metabolomic Profiling of Wildtype and Transgenic Giardia lamblia Strains by 1H HR-MAS NMR Spectroscopy.

Giardia lamblia, a causative agent of persistent diarrhea in humans, domestic animals, and cattle, is usually treated with nitro compounds. Consequently, enzymes involved in anaerobic nitro reduction have been investigated in detail as potential targets. Their role within the normal metabolic context is, however, not understood. Using 1H high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy, we analyzed the metabolomes of G. lamblia trophozoites overexpressing three nitroreductases (NR1–NR3) and thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), most likely a scavenger of reactive oxygen species, as suggested by the results published in this study. We compared the patterns to convenient controls and to the situation in the nitro drug resistant strain C4 where NR1 is downregulated. We identified 27 metabolites in G. lamblia trophozoites. Excluding metabolites of high variability among different wildtype populations, only trophozoites overexpressing NR1 presented a distinct pattern of nine metabolites, in particular arginine catabolites, differing from the respective controls. This pattern matched a differential pattern between wildtype and strain C4. This suggests that NR1 interferes with arginine and thus energy metabolism. The exact metabolic function of NR1 (and the other nitroreductases) remains to be elucidated.