ObjectiveTo detect the metabolites of the serum and joint fluid from rabbits’ osteoarthritis model with 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) technique, study the metabolic differences and connections of serum, synovial and cartilage of rabbits after the articular cavity injection of sodium hyaluronate, and explore osteoarthritis and metabolic mechanism in the process of treating sodium hyaluronate using sodium hyaluronate, thus provide new ideas and basis of the specific mechanisms in the treatment of osteoarthritis via sodium hyaluronate.MethodsWe selected 30 healthy New Zealand white rabbits, 6 months old, and randomly divided them into three groups as follows: blank control group, model phosphate buffer saline (PBS) liquid injection group and model injection of sodium hyaluronate group, with 10 rabbits in each group. Ten weeks after surgery, all experimental animals were put to death and observed in correlation studies regarding general condition, imaging examination, and histological examination. Metabolites 1H NMR detection and data preprocessing were performed in the serum and joint fluid samples.ResultsThe results considering general condition, general sample observation, imaging examination and histology indicated advantages in sodium hyaluronate group over PBS group. Metabolomics analysis showed statistically significant changes of metabolites in the serum and joint fluid compared with the PBS group and the blank control group (P<0.05). According to the relevant ways of differences metabolites retrieval, analysis found that the effect of sodium hyaluronate on osteoarthritis might be related to protein biosynthesis, amino acid circulation, the metabolic process of pyruvic acid, gluconeogenesis and other metabolic pathways.ConclusionsBased on the research of 1H-NMR metabolomics, the results suggest that the effect of sodium hyaluronate on osteoarthritis is mainly related with the activation of protein metabolism, abnormal lipid and energy metabolic pathways. This study provides new ideas and basis on the concrete mechanism in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis using sodium hyaluronate.
With the development of life sciences and informatics, bioinformatics is developing as an interdisciplinary subject. Its main application is the relationship between genes and proteins and their expression. With the help of genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics, researchers introduce bioinformatics research methods into fundus disease research. A series of gratifying research results have been achieved including the screening of genetic susceptibility genes, the screening of diagnostic markers, and the exploration of pathogenesis. Genomics has the characteristics of high efficiency and accuracy. It has been used to detect new mutation sites in retinoblastoma and retinal pigment degeneration research, which helps to further improve the pathogenesis of retinal genetic diseases. Transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics have high throughput characteristics. They are used to analyze changes in the expression profiles of RNA, proteins, and metabolites in intraocular fluid or isolated cells in disease states, which help to screen biomarkers and further elucidate the pathogenesis. With the advancement of technology, bioinformatics will provide new ideas for the study of ocular fundus diseases.
ObjectiveTandem mass spectrometry is used to observe the changes in amino acids level in peripheral blood of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) of different severity, and explore the related factors that affect the level of amino acids in COPD patients.MethodsA collection of 99 COPD patients from the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinzhou Medical University between May 2020 and August 2020 were divided into GOLD Ⅰ/Ⅱ group, GOLD Ⅲ group and GOLD Ⅳ group according to the results of their lung function. Thirty healthy physical examination subjects during the same period were enrolled as a healthy control group. Peripheral amino acids were detected by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS).ResultsThe metabolism of 11 amino acids was correlated with the onset of COPD and the disorder of amino acid metabolism became more significant with the aggravation of the disease, and branched-chain amino acids (leucine, valine) had statistically significant differences in the COPD patients with different GOLD grades (P<0.05 and VIP>1). The difference between glutamate and glutamine was statistically significant only in GOLD Ⅳ stage (P<0.05 and VIP>1). The content of tyrosine and phenylalanine gradually increased with the increase of disease severity, and had significant difference in GOLD stage Ⅳ (P<0.05).ConclusionsCOPD patients with different GOLD grades have obvious amino acid metabolism disorders, including insufficient intake of essential amino acids and increased amino acids related to muscle protein catabolism. Understanding the mechanism between amino acid metabolism and COPD may provide a new direction for the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus causing severe visual impairment, and it is the main cause of blindness in adults. Metabolic abnormalities play an important role in the occurrence and development of DR, including the abnormal levels of glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism and purine metabolism, which indicate that there are disorders of phosphopentose pathway, arginine metabolism pathway, polyol pathway and ascorbic acid pathway in the progression of DR. Metabolomics has great advantages in exploring the pathogenesis and diagnosis of DR, helping to identify the characteristic metabolic changes of DR And discover potential biomarkers. However, the existing metabolomics studies on DR have some limitations, such as the potential biomarkers found in some studies are difficult to verify in other studies due to differences in race, age, gender and sample size. There are few studies on biomarkers at different stages of DR. Therefore, in the future, multi-center and large-scale clinical studies are needed to screen out biomarkers with practical clinical diagnostic value.
Objective To analyze the metabolic characteristics of myocardial infarction (MI) using metabolomics to better understand its pathogenesis and to explore new therapeutic directions for MI. Methods Serum metabolites in ten acute MI mice and five sham-control mice were analyzed by UHPLC-QqQ/MS, and SPSS was used for statistical analysis. MetaboAnalyst 5.0 was used to analyze the metabolic pathways of the differential metabolites and build a metabolic network. Results One hundred and twenty-nine metabolites were detected by UHPLC-QqQ/MS. Significant serum metabolite differences were found between MI mice and normal controls. Fifty out of 129 metabolites in serum were associated with MI. In addition, the most important metabolic pathways were D-glutamate metabolism, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate acid metabolism. ConclusionMetabolites in serine-related metabolic pathways reduce in serum in MI. We propose a new therapeutic direction for myocardial protection in MI.
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus (DM), and its pathogenesis remains incompletely understood. Research has identified inflammation as a key factor in the onset and progression of DR. As a group of systemic metabolic disorders, the dysregulation of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) metabolism induced by DM is closely related to the inflammatory mechanisms in DR. Recent metabolomic studies have revealed that in various stages of DR and in diabetic animal models, most upregulated PUFAs and their derivatives act as pro-inflammatory mediators, while downregulated PUFAs and their derivatives are predominantly anti-inflammatory. In the progression of DR, some PUFAs may exert anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting microglial activation, reducing the expression of inflammatory proteins, antagonizing the pro-inflammatory effects of arachidonic acid, and suppressing the activation of inflammasomes and the migration of neutrophils. Conversely, other PUFAs may promote inflammation through mechanisms such as the formation of pro-inflammatory mediators resembling prostaglandins, facilitating leukocyte adhesion, and inducing oxidative stress responses. PUFAs play a complex dual role in the inflammatory mechanisms of DR. A deeper understanding of these mechanisms not only aids in elucidating the pathogenesis of DR but also provides potential targets for developing new therapeutic strategies.