title: Metabolomic analysis of serum by (1) H NMR spectroscopy in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an invariably fatal neurological disorder shows complicated pathogenesis that poses challenges with respect to diagnosis as well as monitoring of disease progression.
  
  
  METHODS
  We investigated metabolite profiles in the serum of 30 patients with ALS, 10 patients of Hirayama disease, which served as a neurological disease control and 25 healthy controls by using (1) H NMR spectroscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to healthy controls, the ALS patients had higher quantities of glutamate (P<0.001), beta-hydroxybutyrate (P<0.001), acetate (P<0.01), acetone (P<0.05), and formate (P<0.001), and lower concentrations of glutamine (P<0.02), histidine (P<0.001) and N-acetyl derivatives. On the other hand, Hirayama disease patients had significantly higher median concentrations of pyruvate (P<0.05), glutamate (P<0.001), formate (P<0.05) and lower median concentrations of N-acetyl derivatives. Furthermore, we also found that serum glutamate showed a positive correlation (P<0.001, r=0.6487) whereas, histidine showed a negative correlation (P<0.001, r=-0.5641) with the duration of the disease in ALS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Such (1) H NMR study of serum may reveal abnormal metabolite patterns, which could have the potential to serve as surrogate markers for monitoring ALS disease progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, UP, India.
authors.forename: Alok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Lakshmi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bala
authors.forename: Jayantee
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kalita
authors.forename: U K
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Misra
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Khetrapal
authors.forename: G Nagesh
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Babu
mesh_terms: D020155:3-Hydroxybutyric Acid / Q000097:blood; D000085:Acetates; D000096:Acetone / Q000097:blood; D000328:Adult; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D005561:Formates / Q000097:blood; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000097:blood; D005973:Glutamine / Q000097:blood; D006639:Histidine / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D011522:Protons; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000085:Acetates; D005561:Formates; D011522:Protons; D005973:Glutamine; D000096:Acetone; D018698:Glutamic Acid; D006639:Histidine; D020155:3-Hydroxybutyric Acid