4.6 Article

Metabolomic Analysis in Brain Research: Opportunities and Challenges

Journal

FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY
Volume 7, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2016.00183

Keywords

CNS metabolomics; systems biology; systems medicine; neurophysiology; network medicine; metabolic network analysis; metabolomic data standardization

Categories

Funding

  1. Bodossakis Foundation
  2. FORTH/ICE-HT through the TREAT-HEART research project, Action COOPERATION, Sub-Action II: Large-Scale Collaborative Projects [09SYN-21-965]
  3. BIOSYS research project, Action KRIPIS [MIS-448301(2013SL01380036)]
  4. General Secretariat for Research and Technology, Ministry of Education, Greece
  5. European Regional Development Fund (Sectoral Operational Programme: Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship, NSRF 2007-2013)/European Commission)

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Metabolism being a fundamental part of molecular physiology, elucidating the structure and regulation of metabolic pathways is crucial for obtaining a comprehensive perspective of cellular function and understanding the underlying mechanisms of its dysfunction(s). Therefore, quantifying an accurate metabolic network activity map under various physiological conditions is among the major objectives of systems biology in the context of many biological applications. Especially for CNS, metabolic network activity analysis can substantially enhance our knowledge about the complex structure of the mammalian brain and the mechanisms of neurological disorders, leading to the design of effective therapeutic treatments. Metabolomics has emerged as the high-throughput quantitative analysis of the concentration profile of small molecular weight metabolites, which act as reactants and products in metabolic reactions and as regulatory molecules of proteins participating in many biological processes. Thus, the metabolic profile provides a metabolic activity fingerprint, through the simultaneous analysis of tens to hundreds of molecules of pathophysiological and pharmacological interest. The application of metabolomics is at its standardization phase in general, and the challenges for paving a standardized procedure are even more pronounced in brain studies. In this review, we support the value of metabolomics in brain research. Moreover, we demonstrate the challenges of designing and setting up a reliable brain metabolomic study, which, among other parameters, has to take into consideration the sex differentiation and the complexity of brain physiology manifested in its regional variation. We finally propose ways to overcome these challenges and design a study that produces reproducible and consistent results.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available