title: Plasma metabolic biomarkers for syndrome of phlegm and blood stasis in hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the plasma metabolite profiles in patients with the syndrome of phlegm and blood stasis in hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis (As), and to search for the metabolic biomarkers of the syndrome.
  
  
  METHODS
  The plasma metabolite profiles of 31 patients with the syndrome of phlegm and blood stasis in hyperlipidemia and As, 6 patients with syndromes without phlegm and blood stasis, and 10 healthy subjects were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Partial least squares-discriminant analyses (PLS-DA) were used to carry out the pattern-recognition analyses of the data. The plasma metabolic biomarkers of patients were obtained by variable importance plot value (VIP value) and Student's t-test. The structures of biomarkers were defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) database.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PLS-DA score plots of plasma metabolomes did not show overlap between the phlegm-blood stasis syndrome group and syndromes without phlegm and blood stasis group, whereas significant differences in the concentrations in the plasma of 5 metabolites were found (P < 0.05). They were identified as urine, isoleucine, glucuronic acid, palmitic acid and glycerol by searching in NIST database. The concentrations of four metabolites in the plasma of patients with syndrome of phlegm and blood stasis were higher than those with syndromes without phlegm and blood stasis, whereas the glycerol concentration was lower.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with patients with syndromes without phlegm and blood stasis, five metabolites showed abnormal levels in patients with the syndrome of phlegm and blood stasis. These metabolites could be diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.
authors: Institute of Basic Medical Theory of Chinese Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
authors: Dong
authors: D
authors: Bai
authors: Jiannan
authors: J
authors: Song
mesh_terms: D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis* / Q000097:blood; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D010949:Plasma / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D013183:Sputum / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers