The gut microbiome may play a role in inflammation associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) development. This cross-sectional study examined its relation with glycemic status within a subset of the ...Multiethnic Cohort (MEC) and estimated the association of circulating bacterial endotoxin (measured as plasma lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP)) with T2D, which may be mediated by C-reactive protein (CRP).
In 2013-16, cohort members from five ethnic groups completed clinic visits, questionnaires, and stool and blood collections. Participants with self-reported T2D and/or taking medication were considered T2D cases. Those with fasting glucose >125 and 100-125 mg/dL were classified as undiagnosed (UT2D) and pre-diabetes (PT2D) cases, respectively. We characterized the gut microbiome through 16S rRNA gene sequencing and measured plasma LBP and CRP by standard assays. Linear regression was applied to estimate associations of the gut microbiome community structure and LBP with T2D status adjusting for relevant confounders.
Among 1,702 participants (59.9-77.4 years), 735 (43%) were normoglycemic (NG), 506 (30%) PT2D, 154 (9%) UT2D, and 307 (18%) T2D. The Shannon diversity index decreased (ptrend = 0.05), while endotoxin, measured as LBP, increased (ptrend = 0.0003) from NG to T2D. Of 10 phyla, Actinobacteria (ptrend = 0.007), Firmicutes (ptrend = 0.003), and Synergistetes (ptrend = 0.02) were inversely associated and Lentisphaerae (ptrend = 0.01) was positively associated with T2D status. Clostridium sensu stricto 1, Lachnospira, and Peptostreptococcaceae were less, while Escherichia-Shigella and Lachnospiraceae were more abundant among T2D patients, but the associations with Actinobacteria, Clostridium sensu stricto 1, and Escherichia-Shigella may be due metformin use. PT2D/UT2D values were closer to NG than T2D. No indication was detected that CRP mediated the association of LBP with T2D.
T2D but not PT2D/UT2D status was associated with lower abundance of SCFA-producing genera and a higher abundance of gram-negative endotoxin-producing bacteria suggesting that the gut microbiome may contribute to chronic systemic inflammation and T2D through bacterial translocation.
Metabolomics is the study of metabolism at the global level. This rapidly developing new discipline has important potential implications for pharmacologic science. The concept that metabolic state is ...representative of the overall physiologic status of the organism lies at the heart of metabolomics. Metabolomic studies capture global biochemical events by assaying thousands of small molecules in cells, tissues, organs, or biological fluids-followed by the application of informatic techniques to define metabolomic signatures. Metabolomic studies can lead to enhanced understanding of disease mechanisms and to new diagnostic markers as well as enhanced understanding of mechanisms for drug or xenobiotic effect and increased ability to predict individual variation in drug response phenotypes (pharmacometabolomics). This review outlines the conceptual basis for metabolomics as well as analytical and informatic techniques used to study the metabolome and to define metabolomic signatures. It also highlights potential metabolomic applications to pharmacology and clinical pharmacology.
This review discusses the integration of liquid chromatography (LC), mass spectrometry (MS), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in the comprehensive analysis of small molecules from complex ...matrices. We first discuss the steps taken toward making the three technologies compatible, so as to create an efficient analytical platform. The development of online LC‐MS‐NMR, highlighted by successful applications in the profiling of highly concentrated analytes (LODs 10 μg) is discussed next. This is followed by a detailed overview of the alternative approaches that have been developed to overcome the challenges associated with online LC‐MS‐NMR that primarily stem from the inherently low sensitivity of NMR. These alternative approaches include the use of stop‐flow LC‐MS‐NMR, loop collection of LC peaks, LC‐MS‐SPE‐NMR, and offline NMR. The potential and limitations of all these approaches is discussed in the context of applications in various fields, including metabolomics and natural product discovery.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) mitochondria exhibit high oxidative capacity and abundant expression of both electron transport chain components and uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). UCP1 dissipates the ...mitochondrial proton motive force (Δp) generated by the respiratory chain and increases thermogenesis. Here we find that in mice genetically lacking UCP1, cold-induced activation of metabolism triggers innate immune signaling and markers of cell death in BAT. Moreover, global proteomic analysis reveals that this cascade induced by UCP1 deletion is associated with a dramatic reduction in electron transport chain abundance. UCP1-deficient BAT mitochondria exhibit reduced mitochondrial calcium buffering capacity and are highly sensitive to mitochondrial permeability transition induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and calcium overload. This dysfunction depends on ROS production by reverse electron transport through mitochondrial complex I, and can be rescued by inhibition of electron transfer through complex I or pharmacologic depletion of ROS levels. Our findings indicate that the interscapular BAT of Ucp1 knockout mice exhibits mitochondrial disruptions that extend well beyond the deletion of UCP1 itself. This finding should be carefully considered when using this mouse model to examine the role of UCP1 in physiology.
α-Synuclein (αSyn) aggregation and mitochondrial dysfunction both contribute to the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease (PD). Although recent studies have suggested that mitochondrial association of ...αSyn may disrupt mitochondrial function, it is unclear what aggregation state of αSyn is most damaging to mitochondria and what conditions promote or inhibit the effect of toxic αSyn species. Because the neuronal populations most vulnerable in PD are characterized by large cytosolic Ca2+ oscillations that burden mitochondria, we examined mitochondrial Ca2+ stress in an in vitro system comprising isolated mitochondria and purified recombinant human αSyn in various aggregation states. Using fluorimetry to simultaneously measure four mitochondrial parameters, we observed that soluble, prefibrillar αSyn oligomers, but not monomeric or fibrillar αSyn, decreased the retention time of exogenously added Ca2+, promoted Ca2+-induced mitochondrial swelling and depolarization, and accelerated cytochrome c release. Inhibition of the permeability transition pore rescued these αSyn-induced changes in mitochondrial parameters. Interestingly, the mitotoxic effects of αSyn were specifically dependent upon both electron flow through complex I and mitochondrial uptake of exogenous Ca2+. Our results suggest that soluble prefibrillar αSyn oligomers recapitulate several mitochondrial phenotypes previously observed in animal and cell models of PD: complex I dysfunction, altered membrane potential, disrupted Ca2+ homeostasis, and enhanced cytochrome c release. These data reveal how the association of oligomeric αSyn with mitochondria can be detrimental to the function of cells with high Ca2+-handling requirements.
Background: Mitochondrial dysfunction and aggregation of α-synuclein both contribute to Parkinson disease.
Results: Prefibrillar α-synuclein oligomers reduce the Ca2+ retention time of isolated mitochondria respiring with complex I but not II substrates.
Conclusion: Oligomeric α-synuclein promotes mitochondrial dysfunction in a Ca2+- and respiratory substrate-dependent manner.
Significance: The Ca2+-dependence of α-synuclein's effects may contribute to selective neuronal vulnerability in Parkinson disease.
We compared fat storage in the abdominal region among individuals from 5 different ethnic–racial groups to determine whether fat storage is associated with disparities observed in metabolic syndrome ...and other obesity-associated diseases.
We collected data from 1794 participants in the Multiethnic Cohort Study (60–77 years old; of African, European white, Japanese, Latino, or Native Hawaiian ancestry) with body mass index values of 17.1–46.2 kg/m2. From May 2013 through April 2016, participants visited the study clinic to undergo body measurements, an interview, and a blood collection. Participants were evaluated by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and abdominal magnetic resonance imaging. Among ethnic groups, we compared adiposity of the trunk, intra-abdominal visceral cavity, and liver, adjusting for total fat mass; we evaluated the association of adult weight change with abdominal adiposity; and we examined the prevalence of metabolic syndrome mediated by abdominal adiposity.
Relative amounts of trunk, visceral, and liver fat varied significantly with ethnicity—they were highest in Japanese Americans, lowest in African Americans, and intermediate in the other groups. Compared with African Americans, the mean visceral fat area was 45% and 73% greater in Japanese American men and women, respectively, and the mean measurements of liver fat were 61% and 122% greater in Japanese American men and women. The visceral and hepatic adiposity associated with weight gain since participants were 21 years old varied in a similar pattern among ethnic–racial groups. In the mediation analysis, visceral and liver fat jointly accounted for a statistically significant fraction of the difference in metabolic syndrome prevalence, compared with white persons, for African Americans, Japanese Americans, and Native Hawaiian women, independently of total fat mass.
In an analysis of data from the participants in the Multiethnic Cohort Study, we found extensive differences among ethnic–racial groups in the propensity to store fat intra-abdominally. This observation should be considered by clinicians in the prevention and early detection of metabolic disorders.
Background: As the proportion of visceral (VAT) to subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) may contribute to type 2 diabetes (T2D) development, we examined this relation in a cross-sectional design within ...the Multiethnic Cohort that includes Japanese Americans known to have high VAT. The aim was to understand how ectopic fat accumulation differs by glycemic status across ethnic groups with disparate rates of obesity, T2D, and propensity to accumulate VAT.Methods: In 2013–2016, 1,746 participants aged 69.2 (standard deviation, 2.7) years from five ethnic groups completed questionnaires, blood collections, and whole-body dual X-ray absorptiometry and abdominal magnetic resonance imaging scans. Participants with self-reported T2D and/or medication were classified as T2D, those with fasting glucose >125 and 100–125 mg/dL as undiagnosed cases (UT2D) and prediabetes (PT2D), respectively. Using linear regression, we estimated adjusted means of adiposity measures by T2D status.Results: Overall, 315 (18%) participants were classified as T2D, 158 (9%) as UT2D, 518 (30%) as PT2D, and 755 (43%) as normoglycemic (NG), with significant ethnic differences (P < 0.0001). In fully adjusted models, VAT, VAT/SAT, and percent liver fat increased significantly from NG, PT2D, UT2D, to T2D (P < 0.001). Across ethnic groups, the VAT/SAT ratio was lowest for NG participants and highest for T2D cases. Positive trends were observed in all groups except African Americans, with highest VAT/SAT in Japanese Americans.Conclusion: These findings indicate that VAT plays an important role in T2D etiology, in particular among Japanese Americans with high levels of ectopic adipose tissue, which drives the development of T2D to a greater degree than in other ethnic groups.
•Major depressive disorder (MDD) can be theorized as a series of symptom dimensions.•We examined metabolic associations of three MDD symptom dimensions.•Metabolic associations were largely ...independent across symptoms dimensions.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly heterogenous disease, both in terms of clinical profiles and pathobiological alterations. Recently, immunometabolic dysregulations were shown to be correlated with atypical, energy-related symptoms but less so with the Melancholic or Anxious distress symptom dimensions of depression in The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA) study. In this study, we aimed to replicate these immunometabolic associations and to characterize the metabolomic correlates of each of the three MDD dimensions.
Using three clinical rating scales, Melancholic, and Anxious distress, and Immunometabolic (IMD) dimensions were characterized in 158 patients who participated in the Predictors of Remission to Individual and Combined Treatments (PReDICT) study and from whom plasma and serum samples were available. The NESDA-defined inflammatory index, a composite measure of interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein, was measured from pre-treatment plasma samples and a metabolomic profile was defined using serum samples analyzed on three metabolomics platforms targeting fatty acids and complex lipids, amino acids, acylcarnitines, and gut microbiome-derived metabolites among other metabolites of central metabolism.
The IMD clinical dimension and the inflammatory index were positively correlated (r = 0.19, p = 0.019) after controlling for age, sex, and body mass index, whereas the Melancholic and Anxious distress dimensions were not, replicating the previous NESDA findings. The three symptom dimensions had distinct metabolomic signatures using both univariate and set enrichment statistics. IMD severity correlated mainly with gut-derived metabolites and a few acylcarnitines and long chain saturated free fatty acids. Melancholia severity was significantly correlated with several phosphatidylcholines, primarily the ether-linked variety, lysophosphatidylcholines, as well as several amino acids. Anxious distress severity correlated with several medium and long chain free fatty acids, both saturated and polyunsaturated ones, sphingomyelins, as well as several amino acids and bile acids.
The IMD dimension of depression appears reliably associated with markers of inflammation. Metabolomics provides powerful tools to inform about depression heterogeneity and molecular mechanisms related to clinical dimensions in MDD, which include a link to gut microbiome and lipids implicated in membrane structure and function.
Mass spectrometry (MS) techniques, because of their sensitivity and selectivity, have become methods of choice to characterize the human metabolome and MS-based metabolomics is increasingly used to ...characterize the complex metabolic effects of nutrients or foods. However progress is still hampered by many unsolved problems and most notably the lack of well established and standardized methods or procedures, and the difficulties still met in the identification of the metabolites influenced by a given nutritional intervention. The purpose of this paper is to review the main obstacles limiting progress and to make recommendations to overcome them. Propositions are made to improve the mode of collection and preparation of biological samples, the coverage and quality of mass spectrometry analyses, the extraction and exploitation of the raw data, the identification of the metabolites and the biological interpretation of the results.
There is a growing need both clinically and experimentally to improve the characterization of blood lipids. A liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) method, developed for the qualitative and ...semiquantitative detection of lipids in biological samples and previously validated in mitochondrial samples, was now evaluated for the profiling of serum lipids. Data were acquired using high-resolution, full scan MS and high-energy, collisional dissociation (HCD), all ion fragmentation. The method was designed for efficient separation and detection in both positive and negative ionization mode and evaluated using standards spanning seven lipid classes. Platform performance, related to the identification and characterization of serum triglycerides (TGs), was assessed using extracted ion chromatograms with mass tolerance windows of 5 ppm or less from full scan exact mass measurements determined using SIEVE nondifferential LC–MS analysis software. The platform showed retention time coefficients of variation (CV) of <0.3%, mass accuracy values of <2 ppm error, and peak area CV of <13%, with the majority of that error coming from sample preparation and extraction rather than the LC–MS analysis, and linearity was shown to be over 4 orders of magnitude (r 2 = 0.999) for the standard TG (15:0)3 spiked into serum. Instrument mass accuracy and precision were critical to the identification of unknown TG species, in part because these parameters enabled us to reduce false positives. In addition to detection and relative quantitation of TGs in serum, TG structures were characterized through the use of alternating HCD scans at different energies to produce diagnostic fragmentations on all ions in the analysis. The lipidomics method was applied to serum samples from 192 rats maintained on diets differing in macronutrient composition. The analysis identified 86 TG species with 81 unique masses that varied over 3.5 orders of magnitude and showed diet-dependency, consistent with TGs linking diet and disease risk.
PDF
