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Post-mortem changes in the metabolomic compositions of rabbit blood, aqueous and vitreous humors

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Abstract

Introduction

The analysis of post-mortem metabolomic changes in biological fluids opens the way to develop new methods for the estimation of post-mortem interval (PMI). It may also help in the analysis of disease-induced metabolomic changes in human tissues when the postoperational samples are compared to the post-mortem samples from healthy donors.

Objectives

The goals of this study are to observe and classify the post-mortem changes occurring in the rabbit blood, aqueous and vitreous humors (AH and VH), to identify the potential PMI markers among a wide range of metabolites, and also to determine which biological fluid—blood, AH or VH—is more suitable for the PMI estimation.

Methods

The quantitative metabolomic profiling of samples of the rabbit serum, AH and VH taken at different PMIs has been performed with the combined use of high-frequency NMR and high-resolution LC–MS methods.

Results

The quantitative levels of 61 metabolites in the rabbit serum, AH and VH at different PMIs have been measured. It has been found that the post-mortem metabolomic changes in AH and VH proceed slower than in blood, and the data scattering is lower. Among the metabolites whose concentrations increase with time, the most significant and linear growth is found for hypoxanthine, choline and glycerol.

Conclusion

The obtained results suggest that the ocular fluids AH and VH may have some advantages over blood serum for the search of potential biochemical markers for the PMI estimation. Among the compounds studied in the present work, hypoxanthine, choline and glycerol give the biggest promise as the potential PMI biomarkers.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the Russian Scientific Foundation (Project No. 14-14-00056) in LC–MS measurements, by FASO Russia (Project No. 0333-2014-0001) in NMR measurements, and by RFBR (Projects Nos. 14-03-00027 and 14-03-00453) in sample preparation. VVY acknowledges the financial support of the President of RF (Project No. MK-5367.2015.3).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Tomography Center SB RAS, Institutskaya 3a, Novosibirsk, Russia, 630090

    Ekaterina A. Zelentsova, Lyudmila V. Yanshole, Olga A. Snytnikova, Vadim V. Yanshole, Yuri P. Tsentalovich & Renad Z. Sagdeev

  2. Novosibirsk State University, Pirogova 2, Novosibirsk, Russia, 630090

    Ekaterina A. Zelentsova, Lyudmila V. Yanshole, Olga A. Snytnikova, Vadim V. Yanshole & Yuri P. Tsentalovich

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  1. Ekaterina A. Zelentsova
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  2. Lyudmila V. Yanshole
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  3. Olga A. Snytnikova
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  4. Vadim V. Yanshole
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  5. Yuri P. Tsentalovich
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  6. Renad Z. Sagdeev
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Correspondence to Yuri P. Tsentalovich.

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Research involving human participants and/or animals

All animals were treated according to the ARVO Statement for the Use of Animals in Ophthalmic and Vision Research and the European Union Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, with the ethics clearance from the International Tomography Center SB RAS.

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Zelentsova, E.A., Yanshole, L.V., Snytnikova, O.A. et al. Post-mortem changes in the metabolomic compositions of rabbit blood, aqueous and vitreous humors. Metabolomics 12, 172 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-016-1118-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-016-1118-2

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