title: Use of the 1-mm micro-probe for  metabolic analysis on small volume biological samples.
abstract: Endogenous metabolites are promising diagnostic end-points in cancer research. Clinical application of high-resolution NMR spectroscopy is often limited by extremely low volumes of human specimens. In the present study, the use of the Bruker 1-mm high-resolution TXI micro-probe was evaluated in the elucidation of metabolic profiles for three different clinical applications with limited sample sizes (body fluids, isolated cells and tissue biopsies). Sample preparation and (1)H-NMR metabolite quantification protocols were optimized for following oncology-oriented applications: (i) to validate the absolute concentrations of citrate and spermine in human expressed prostatic specimens (EPS volumes 5 to 10 microl: prostate cancer application); (ii) to establish the metabolic profile of isolated human lymphocytes (total cell count 4 x 10(6): chronic myelogenous leukaemia application); (iii) to assess the metabolic composition of human head-and-neck cancers from mouse xenografts (biopsy weights 20 to 70 mg: anti-cancer treatment application). In this study, the use of the Bruker 1-mm micro-probe provides a convenient way to measure and quantify endogenous metabolic profiles of samples with a very low volume/weight/cell count.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical MRI/MRS Cancer Center Core, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Natalie J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Serkova
authors.affiliation: Bruker BioSpin Corporation, Billerica, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Amy S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Freund
authors.affiliation: Biomedical MRI/MRS Cancer Center Core, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Jaimi L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Biomedical MRI/MRS Cancer Center Core, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO, USA.
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kominsky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001826:Body Fluids / Q000378:metabolism; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D015464:Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D015335:Molecular Probes; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D015335:Molecular Probes