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Metabolic profiling of ob/ob mouse fatty liver using HR-MAS 1H-NMR combined with gene expression analysis reveals alterations in betaine metabolism and the transsulfuration pathway

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Abstract

Metabolic perturbations resulting from excessive hepatic fat accumulation are poorly understood. Thus, in this study, leptin-deficient ob/ob mice, a mouse model of fatty liver disease, were used to investigate metabolic alterations in more detail. Metabolites were quantified in intact liver tissues of ob/ob (n = 8) and control (n = 8) mice using high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) 1H-NMR. In addition, after demonstrating that HR-MAS 1H-NMR does not affect RNA integrity, transcriptional changes were measured by quantitative real-time PCR on RNA extracted from the same specimens after HR-MAS 1H-NMR measurements. Importantly, the gene expression changes obtained agreed with those observed by Affymetrix microarray analysis performed on RNA isolated directly from fresh-frozen tissue. In total, 40 metabolites could be assigned in the spectra and subsequently quantified. Quantification of lactate was also possible after applying a lactate-editing pulse sequence that suppresses the lipid signal, which superimposes the lactate methyl resonance at 1.3 ppm. Significant differences were detected for creatinine, glutamate, glycine, glycolate, trimethylamine-N-oxide, dimethylglycine, ADP, AMP, betaine, phenylalanine, and uridine. Furthermore, alterations in one-carbon metabolism, supported by both metabolic and transcriptional changes, were observed. These included reduced demethylation of betaine to dimethylglycine and the reduced expression of genes coding for transsulfuration pathway enzymes, which appears to preserve methionine levels, but may limit glutathione synthesis. Overall, the combined approach is advantageous as it identifies changes not only at the single gene or metabolite level but also deregulated pathways, thus providing critical insight into changes accompanying fatty liver disease.

A Evaluation of RNA integrity before and after HR-MAS 1H-NMR of intact mouse liver tissue. B Metabolite concentrations and gene expression levels assessed in ob/ob (steatotic) and ob/+ (control) mice using HR-MAS 1H-NMR and qRT-PCR, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Agapios Sachinidis at the Center of Physiology and Pathophysiology of the Medical Faculty at the University of Cologne for performing the gene microarray analysis. Financial support by the Ministerium für Innovation, Wissenschaft und Forschung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, the Senatsverwaltung für Wirtschaft, Technologie und Forschung des Landes Berlin, and the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (01KU1216I) is gratefully acknowledged.

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    1. Leibniz Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften – ISAS e.V., Bunsen-Kirchhoff-Strasse 11, 44139, Dortmund, Germany

      Mikheil Gogiashvili, Jörg Lambert & Roland Hergenröder

    2. Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Ardeystrasse 67, 44139, Dortmund, Germany

      Karolina Edlund, Kathrin Gianmoena, Rosemarie Marchan, Jan G. Hengstler & Cristina Cadenas

    3. Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine of the German Social Accident Insurance (IPA), Institute of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bürkle-de-la-Camp-Platz 1, 44789, Bochum, Germany

      Alexander Brik

    4. Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, University of Münster, Corrensstrasse 30, 48149, Münster, Germany

      Jan T. Andersson

    5. Faculty of Statistics, TU Dortmund University, Mathematics Building, 44221, Dortmund, Germany

      Katrin Madjar, Birte Hellwig & Jörg Rahnenführer

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    Gogiashvili, M., Edlund, K., Gianmoena, K. et al. Metabolic profiling of ob/ob mouse fatty liver using HR-MAS 1H-NMR combined with gene expression analysis reveals alterations in betaine metabolism and the transsulfuration pathway. Anal Bioanal Chem 409, 1591–1606 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-016-0100-1

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