[Frontiers in Bioscience E2, 725-732, January 1, 2010]

1H NMR-based metabolic profiling of urine from children with nephrouropathies

Luigi Atzori1, Roberto Antonucci2, Luigi Barberini3, Emanuela Locci4, Flaminia Cesare Marincola4, Paola Scano4, Patrizia Cortesi5, Rino Agostiniani5, Aalim Weljie6, Adolfo Lai4, Vassilios Fanos2

1Department of Toxicology, University of Cagliari, Italy,2Department of Pediatrics and Clinical Medicine-Section of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, University of Cagliari, Italy, 3Department of Neurological Sciences, University of Cagliari, Italy, 4Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Cagliari, Italy, 5Pediatric Division, Pescia Hospital, Italy, 6Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Canada

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Materials and methods
3.1. Subjects
3.2. Preparation of urine samples for 1H-NMR analysis
3.3. NMR Spectroscopy
3.4. Data reduction of the NMR spectra
4. Results
5. Discussion
6. Conclusions
7. Acknowledgements
8. References

1. ABSTRACT

Pediatric nephrourological diseases are associated with functional alterations frequently related to inflammatory states. A feedback loop adjusts urinary system function while forcing adaptation to internal and external influences during disease development and as a result of treatment. We hypothesized that nephrourological dysfunction would alter the urine metabolite pattern in children in a defined manner. To characterize the metabolite patterns associated with nephrouropathies, a proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR)-based metabonomic analysis was performed on urine samples obtained from twenty-one children affected by nephrouropathies and 19 healthy controls. Urine samples were analyzed with a 400 MHz Varian spectrometer and multivariate statistical techniques were applied for data interpretation. Linear discriminant analysis-based classification of the spectral data demonstrated high accuracy (95%) in the separation of the two groups of samples. By extension, the urine metabolite profiles were shown to correlate with nephrourological disorders in our model. In conclusion, 1H NMR-based metabonomic analysis of urine appears to be a promising, non-invasive approach for investigating and monitoring pediatric nephrourological diseases.