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Target-based metabolomics for the quantitative measurement of 37 pathway metabolites in rat brain and serum using hydrophilic interaction ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

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Abstract

Amino acids, neurotransmitters, purines, and pyrimidines are bioactive molecules that play fundamental roles in maintaining various physiological functions. Their metabolism is closely related to the health, growth, development, reproduction, and homeostasis of organisms. Most recently, comprehensive measurements of these metabolites have shown their potential as innovative approaches in disease surveillance or drug intervention. However, simultaneous measurement of these metabolites presents great difficulties. Here, we report a novel quantitative method that uses hydrophilic interaction ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HILIC-UPLC–MS/MS), which is highly selective, high throughput, and exhibits better chromatographic behavior than existing methods. The developed method enabled the rapid quantification of 37 metabolites, spanning amino acids, neurotransmitters, purines, and pyrimidines pathways, within 6.5 min. The compounds were separated on an ACQUITY UPLC® BEH Amide column. Serum and brain homogenate were extracted by protein precipitation. The intra- and interday precision of all of the analytes was less than 11.34 %, and the accuracy was between −11.74 and 11.51 % for all quality control (QC) levels. The extraction recoveries of serum ranged from 84.58 % to 116.43 % and those of brain samples from 80.80 % to 119.39 %, while the RSD was 14.61 % or less for all recoveries. This method was used to successfully characterize alterations in the rat brain and, in particular, their dynamics in serum. The following study was performed to simultaneously test global changes of these metabolites in a serotonin antagonist p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA)-induced anxiety and insomnia rat model to understand the effect and mechanism of PCPA. Taken together, these results show that the method is able to simultaneously monitor a large panel of metabolites and that this protocol may represent a metabolomic method to diagnose toxicological and pathophysiological states.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Ref. Nos. 81473319 and 81473540), Science and Technology Project of Guangdong Province (Nos. 2014A02020902, 2014A020221027, and 2015A030401031), and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2015A030313123).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510407, China

    Jiahui Chen, Waner Hou, Guanghui Liu, Jin Gong & Qiongfeng Liao

  2. School of Pharmacy, Shihezi University, Shihezi, 832000, China

    Bo Han

  3. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Yemeng Li, Danmin Zhong & Zhiyong Xie

  4. Cooperative Innovation Center for Molecular Target New Drug Study, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, 421001, China

    Zhiyong Xie

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  1. Jiahui Chen
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Correspondence to Qiongfeng Liao or Zhiyong Xie.

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All animal-use procedures were in accordance with the regulations for animal experimentation issued by the State Committee of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China. This study was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine.

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Jiahui Chen and Waner Hou contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

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Chen, J., Hou, W., Han, B. et al. Target-based metabolomics for the quantitative measurement of 37 pathway metabolites in rat brain and serum using hydrophilic interaction ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem 408, 2527–2542 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-016-9352-z

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