bims-metlip 2021-03-07 papers

bims-metlip

Biomed News

on Methods and protocols in metabolomics and lipidomics

Issue of 2021‒03‒07
nine papers selected by
Sofia Costa
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Comprehensive Identification of Glycosphingolipids in Human Plasma Using Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry.
Bioanalysis of plasma acetate levels without derivatization by LC-MS/MS.
Quantification of endogenous aminoacids and aminoacid derivatives in urine by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.
Simultaneous determination of erythrocyte methotrexate polyglutamates by a novel and simple HPLC-MS/MS method with stable isotope-labeled internal standards.
Collection and Storage of Human Plasma for Measurement of Oxylipins.
Ranking Metabolite Sets by Their Activity Levels.
Metabolomics and lipidomics in C. elegans using a single sample preparation.
Metabolomic and Lipidomic Analysis of Bone Marrow Derived Macrophages.
Spatially Resolved Mass Spectrometry at the Single Cell: Recent Innovations in Proteomics and Metabolomics.

Metabolites. 2021 Feb 26. pii: 140. [Epub ahead of print]11(3):

Comprehensive Identification of Glycosphingolipids in Human Plasma Using Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry.

Karel Hořejší, Robert Jirásko, Michaela Chocholoušková, Denise Wolrab, David Kahoun, Michal Holčapek.

  Glycosphingolipids (GSL) represent a highly heterogeneous class of lipids with many cellular functions, implicated in a wide spectrum of human diseases. Their isolation, detection, and comprehensive structural analysis is a challenging task due to the structural diversity of GSL molecules. In this work, GSL subclasses are isolated from human plasma using an optimized monophasic ethanol-water solvent system capable to recover a broad range of GSL species. Obtained deproteinized plasma is subsequently purified and concentrated by C18-based solid-phase extraction (SPE). The hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization linear ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-ESI-LIT-MS/MS) is used for GSL analysis in the human plasma extract. Our results provide an in-depth profiling and structural characterization of glycosphingolipid and some phospholipid subclasses identified in the human plasma based on their retention times and the interpretation of tandem mass spectra. The structural composition of particular lipid species is readily characterized based on the detailed interpretation of mass spectrometry (MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) spectra and further confirmed by specific fragmentation behavior following predictable patterns, which yields to the unambiguous identification of 154 GSL species within 7 lipid subclasses and 77 phospholipids representing the highest number of GSL species ever reported in the human plasma. The developed HILIC-ESI-MS/MS method can be used for further clinical and biological research of GSL in the human blood or other biological samples.

Keywords:  fragmentation behavior; glycosphingolipids; human plasma; hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography; lipid profile; lipidomics; mass spectrometry; sample preparation

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo11030140
Bioanalysis. 2021 Mar 04.

Bioanalysis of plasma acetate levels without derivatization by LC-MS/MS.

Rani J Qasem, Ibrahim K Frah, Ahmad S Aljada, Faisal A Sehli.

  Background: The acetate ion has important physiological functions and important therapeutic applications. A rapid LC-MS/MS method is described to measure acetate ions in human plasma without chemical derivatization. Materials & methods: A 200 μl sample was spiked with the internal standard 1,2-13C-acetate and proteins precipitated with trichloroacetic acid. The supernatant was recovered and separated under acidic conditions on a C18-column. The eluent was alkalinized by post-column infusion of methanolic ammonium hydroxide. Acetate ions were monitored on a low resolution mass spectrometer in negative ion mode. Results: Method was validated for accuracy and precision with a lower limit of quantitation of 9.7 μM and linear dynamic range up to 339.6 μM. Conclusion: The method is open for analytical improvement and adapts with metabolomic and pharmacometabolomic studies on chemicals of similar nature.

Keywords:  acetate; acetic acid toxicity; mass spectrometry; metabolomics; pharmacometabolomics; pseudo multiple reaction monitoring; short chain fatty acids

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.4155/bio-2020-0294
J Chromatogr A. 2021 Feb 18. pii: S0021-9673(21)00129-1. [Epub ahead of print]1642 462005

Quantification of endogenous aminoacids and aminoacid derivatives in urine by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry.

Christina Virgiliou, Georgios Theodoridis, Ian D Wilson, Helen G Gika.

  Aminoacids and their derivatives are key biologically important metabolites and reliable, rapid and accurate, quantification for these analytes in urine remains an important analytical challenge. Here a fast and reliable HILIC-tandem MS method is presented for application in clinical or nutritional studies. The developed method was validated according to existing guidelines adapted for endogenous analytes. The validation strategy provided evidence of linearity, LOD and LOQ, accuracy, precision, matrix effect and recovery. The surrogate matrix approach was applied for calibration proving satisfactory accuracy and precision based on standard criteria over the working concentration ranges. Intra and inter day accuracy was found to range between 0.8 and 20% for the LQC (low QC) and between 0.05 and 15 % for MQC (medium QC) and HQC (high QC). Inter and intraday precision were found to be between 3 and 20 % for the LQC and between 1 and 15% for the MQC and HQC. The stability of the analytes, in both surrogate and pooled urine QC samples, was found to be within 15% over a short period at 4 °C or after a up to 3 freeze-thaw cycles. The uncertainty of the method was also assessed to provide increased confidence for the acquired measurements. The method was successfully applied to a subset of human urine samples involved in a study of amino acids dietary uptake. This method may provide a valuable tool for many applications or studies where amino acid metabolic signatures in the excreted urine are under investigation.

Keywords:  Amino acid derivatives; Amino acids; HILIC; UPLC-MS/MS; Urine

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2021.462005
J Sep Sci. 2021 Mar 01.

Simultaneous determination of erythrocyte methotrexate polyglutamates by a novel and simple HPLC-MS/MS method with stable isotope-labeled internal standards.

Jingjing Wu, Song Zhang, Jiali Li, Xiaoli Zhong, Guiping Feng, Liangqing Hu, Fan He, Hanjing Cen, Yilu Chen, Yanling He, Huasong Zeng, Xiao Chen, Xiaolan Mo.

  Low-dose methotrexate is the first-line therapy for juvenile idiopathic arthritis. In vivo, methotrexate is converted into a series of methotrexate polyglutamates whose intracellular levels contribute significantly to its efficacy and toxicity. In this study, a novel high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated to simultaneously determine erythrocyte methotrexate polyglutamates using stable isotope-labeled internal standards. Erythrocyte samples were precipitated by perchloric acid and then determined on an XBridge BEH C18 column with an XP vanguard precolumn in 12 minutes. The mobile phase consisted of 10 nM ammonium acetate (pH 10) and methanol under gradient elution. The detection was carried out in multiple reaction monitoring mode via an electrospray ionization source in positive ionization mode. The calibration curve for each metabolite was linear from 2.0 to 500.0 nmol/L (r2 > 0.99). The intraday and interday accuracies were between 93.0% and 107.0%, and the corresponding precisions were between 0.8% and 5.2%. The relative recovery ranged from 82.7% to 105.1%, and the relative matrix effect varied from 96.5% to 104.4%. The erythrocyte metabolites were stable for 30 days at -80°C. This simple and accurate method is applicable to routine monitoring of the concentration of erythrocyte methotrexate polyglutamates in patients to achieve individualized treatment. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Keywords:  juvenile idiopathic arthritis; methotrexate; methotrexate polyglutamates; tandem mass spectrometry; therapeutic drug monitoring

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1002/jssc.202001081
Metabolites. 2021 Feb 26. pii: 137. [Epub ahead of print]11(3):

Collection and Storage of Human Plasma for Measurement of Oxylipins.

Kristen J Polinski, Michael Armstrong, Jonathan Manke, Jennifer Seifert, Tessa Crume, Fan Yang, Michael Clare-Salzler, V Michael Holers, Nichole Reisdorph, Jill M Norris.

  Oxylipins derived from omega-3 and -6 fatty acids are actively involved in inflammatory and immune processes and play important roles in human disease. However, as the interest in oxylipins increases, questions remain regarding which molecules are detectable in plasma, the best methods of collecting samples, and if molecules are stable during collection and storage. We thereby built upon existing studies by examining the stability of an expanded panel of 90 oxylipins, including specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators (SPMs), in human plasma (n = 5 subjects) during sample collection, processing, and storage at -80 °C. Oxylipins were quantified using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Blood samples collected in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) or heparin followed by up to 2 h at room temperature prior to processing showed no significant differences in oxylipin concentrations compared to immediately processed samples, including the SPMs lipoxin A4 and resolvin D1. The majority of molecules, including SPMs, remained stable following storage for up to 1 year. However, in support of previous findings, changes were seen in a small subset of oxylipins including 12-HETE, TXB2, 14-HDHA, and 18-HEPE. Overall, this study showed that accurate measurements of most oxylipins can be obtained from stored EDTA or heparin plasma samples using LC/MS/MS.

Keywords:  blood processing; lipid mediators; oxylipins; plasma; storage

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo11030137
Metabolites. 2021 Feb 11. pii: 103. [Epub ahead of print]11(2):

Ranking Metabolite Sets by Their Activity Levels.

Karen McLuskey, Joe Wandy, Isabel Vincent, Justin J J van der Hooft, Simon Rogers, Karl Burgess, Rónán Daly.

  Related metabolites can be grouped into sets in many ways, e.g., by their participation in series of chemical reactions (forming metabolic pathways), or based on fragmentation spectral similarities or shared chemical substructures. Understanding how such metabolite sets change in relation to experimental factors can be incredibly useful in the interpretation and understanding of complex metabolomics data sets. However, many of the available tools that are used to perform this analysis are not entirely suitable for the analysis of untargeted metabolomics measurements. Here, we present PALS (Pathway Activity Level Scoring), a Python library, command line tool, and Web application that performs the ranking of significantly changing metabolite sets over different experimental conditions. The main algorithm in PALS is based on the pathway level analysis of gene expression (PLAGE) factorisation method and is denoted as mPLAGE (PLAGE for metabolomics). As an example of an application, PALS is used to analyse metabolites grouped as metabolic pathways and by shared tandem mass spectrometry fragmentation patterns. A comparison of mPLAGE with two other commonly used methods (overrepresentation analysis (ORA) and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA)) is also given and reveals that mPLAGE is more robust to missing features and noisy data than the alternatives. As further examples, PALS is also applied to human African trypanosomiasis, Rhamnaceae, and American Gut Project data. In addition, normalisation can have a significant impact on pathway analysis results, and PALS offers a framework to further investigate this. PALS is freely available from our project Web site.

Keywords:  Mass2Motif; SVD; liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC/MS); matrix decomposition; metabolite sets; molecular family; pathways

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo11020103
Dis Model Mech. 2021 Mar 02. pii: dmm.047746. [Epub ahead of print]

Metabolomics and lipidomics in C. elegans using a single sample preparation.

Marte Molenaars, Bauke V Schomakers, Hyung L Elfrink, Arwen W Gao, Martin A T Vervaart, Mia L Pras-Raves, Angela C Luyf, Reuben L Smith, Mark G Sterken, Jan E Kammenga, Antoine H C van Kampen, Georges E Janssens, Frédéric M Vaz, Michel van Weeghel, Riekelt H Houtkooper.

  Comprehensive metabolomic and lipidomic mass spectrometry methods are in increasing demand, for instance in research related to nutrition and aging. The nematode C. elegans is a key model organism in these fields, due to the large repository of available C. elegans mutants and their convenient natural lifespan. Here, we describe a robust and sensitive analytical method for the semi-quantitative analysis of >100 polar (metabolomics) and >1000 apolar (lipidomics) metabolites in C. elegans, using a single sample preparation. Our method is capable of reliably detecting a wide variety of biologically relevant metabolic aberrations in, for instance, glycolysis and the TCA cycle, pyrimidine metabolism and complex lipid biosynthesis. In conclusion, we provide a powerful analytical tool that maximizes metabolic data yield from a single sample.

Keywords:  C. elegans; Lipidomics; Metabolism; Metabolomics

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.047746
Bio Protoc. 2020 Jul 20. 10(14): e3693

Metabolomic and Lipidomic Analysis of Bone Marrow Derived Macrophages.

Gretchen L Seim, Steven V John, Jing Fan.

  Macrophages are highly plastic immune cells that are capable of adopting a wide array of functional phenotypes in response to environmental stimuli. The changes in macrophage function are often supported and regulated by changes in cellular metabolism. Capturing a comprehensive picture of metabolism is vital for understanding the role of metabolic rewiring in the immune response. Here we present a method for systematically quantifying the abundance of metabolites and lipids in primary murine bone marrow derived macrophages (BMDMs). This method simultaneously extracts polar metabolites and lipids from BMDMs using a rapid two-phase extraction procedure. The polar metabolite fraction and lipid fraction are subsequently analyzed by separate liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) methods for optimized coverage and quantification. This allows for a comprehensive characterization of cellular metabolism that can be used to understand the impact of a variety of environmental stimuli on macrophage metabolism and function.

Keywords:  LC-MS; Lipidomics; Macrophage; Metabolism; Metabolomics

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.3693
J Am Soc Mass Spectrom. 2021 Mar 03.

Spatially Resolved Mass Spectrometry at the Single Cell: Recent Innovations in Proteomics and Metabolomics.

Michael J Taylor, Jessica K Lukowski, Christopher R Anderton.

  Biological systems are composed of heterogeneous populations of cells that intercommunicate to form a functional living tissue. Biological function varies greatly across populations of cells, as each single cell has a unique transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome that translates to functional differences within single species and across kingdoms. Over the past decade, substantial advancements in our ability to characterize omic profiles on a single cell level have occurred, including in multiple spectroscopic and mass spectrometry (MS)-based techniques. Of these technologies, spatially resolved mass spectrometry approaches, including mass spectrometry imaging (MSI), have shown the most progress for single cell proteomics and metabolomics. For example, reporter-based methods using heavy metal tags have allowed for targeted MS investigation of the proteome at the subcellular level, and development of technologies such as laser ablation electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LAESI-MS) now mean that dynamic metabolomics can be performed in situ. In this Perspective, we showcase advancements in single cell spatial metabolomics and proteomics over the past decade and highlight important aspects related to high-throughput screening, data analysis, and more which are vital to the success of achieving proteomic and metabolomic profiling at the single cell scale. Finally, using this broad literature summary, we provide a perspective on how the next decade may unfold in the area of single cell MS-based proteomics and metabolomics.

Keywords:  DESI; LAESI; LDI; MALDI; NanoDESI; SIMS; high-throughput omics; mass spectrometry imaging

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/jasms.0c00439