Dominant components of the Thoroughbred metabolome characterised by ¹H -nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy: a metabolite atlas of common biofluids

Escalona, E.E., Leng, J., Dona, A.C., Merrifield, C.A., Holmes, E., Proudman, C.J. and Swann, J.R. (2015) Dominant components of the Thoroughbred metabolome characterised by ¹H -nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy: a metabolite atlas of common biofluids. Equine Veterinary Journal, 47 (6), 721-730. (doi:10.1111/evj.12333).

Abstract

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY: Metabonomics is emerging as a powerful tool for disease screening and investigating mammalian metabolism. This study aims to create a metabolic framework by producing a preliminary reference guide for the normal equine metabolic milieu.

OBJECTIVES: To metabolically profile plasma, urine and faecal water from healthy racehorses using high resolution ¹H -nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and to provide a list of dominant metabolites present in each biofluid for the benefit of future research in this area.

STUDY DESIGN: This study was performed using 7 Thoroughbreds in race training at a single time point. Urine and faecal samples were collected noninvasively and plasma was obtained from samples taken for routine clinical chemistry purposes.

METHODS: Biofluids were analysed using ¹H -NMR spectroscopy. Metabolite assignment was achieved via a range of one- and 2-dimensional experiments.

RESULTS: A total of 102 metabolites were assigned across the 3 biological matrices. A core metabonome of 14 metabolites was ubiquitous across all biofluids. All biological matrices provided a unique window on different aspects of systematic metabolism. Urine was the most populated metabolite matrix with 65 identified metabolites, 39 of which were unique to this biological compartment. A number of these were related to gut microbial host cometabolism. Faecal samples were the most metabolically variable between animals; acetate was responsible for the majority (28%) of this variation. Short-chain fatty acids were the predominant features identified within this biofluid by ¹H -NMR spectroscopy.

CONCLUSIONS: Metabonomics provides a platform for investigating complex and dynamic interactions between the host and its consortium of gut microbes and has the potential to uncover markers for health and disease in a variety of biofluids. Inherent variation in faecal extracts along with the relative abundance of microbial-mammalian metabolites in urine and invasive nature of plasma sampling, infers that urine is the most appropriate biofluid for the purposes of metabonomic analysis.

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Contributors

Author: J.R. Swann

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