Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)-Based Metabolomics

Biofluids are by far the most commonly studied sample type in metabolic profiling studies, encompassing blood, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, cell culture media and many others. A number of these fluids can be obtained at a high sampling frequency with minimal invasion, permitting detailed characterisation of dynamic metabolic events. One of the attractive properties of solution-state metabolomics is the ability to generate profiles from these fluids following simple preparation, allowing the analyst to gain a naturalistic, largely unbiased view of their composition that is highly representative of the in vivo situation. Solution-state samples can also be generated from the extraction of tissue or cellular samples that can be tailored to target metabolites with particular properties. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) provides an excellent technique for profiling these fluids and is especially adept at characterising complex solutions. Profiling biofluid samples by NMR requires appropriate preparation and experimental conditions to overcome the demands of varied sample matrices, including those with high protein, lipid or saline content, as well as the presence of water in aqueous samples.