A (1)H NMR-Based Metabonomic Investigation of Time-Related Metabolic Trajectories of the Plasma, Urine and Liver Extracts of Hyperlipidemic Hamsters

The hamster has been previously found to be a suitable model to study the changes associated with diet-induced hyperlipidemia in humans. Traditionally, studies of hyperlipidemia utilize serum- or plasma-based biochemical assays and histopathological evaluation. However, unbiased metabonomic technologies have the potential to identify novel biomarkers of disease. Thus, to obtain a better understanding of the progression of hyperlipidemia and discover potential biomarkers, we have used a proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-NMR)-based metabonomics approach to study the metabolic changes occurring in the plasma, urine and liver extracts of hamsters fed a high-fat/high-cholesterol diet. Samples were collected at different time points during the progression of hyperlipidemia, and individual proton NMR spectra were visually and statistically assessed using two multivariate analyses (MVA): principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). Using the commercial software package Chenomx NMR suite, 40 endogenous metabolites in the plasma, 80 in the urine and 60 in the water-soluble fraction of liver extracts were quantified. NMR analysis of all samples showed a time-dependent transition from a physiological to a pathophysiological state during the progression of hyperlipidemia. Analysis of the identified biomarkers of hyperlipidemia suggests that significant perturbations of lipid and amino acid metabolism, as well as inflammation, oxidative stress and changes in gut microbiota metabolites, occurred following cholesterol overloading. The results of this study substantially broaden the metabonomic coverage of hyperlipidemia, enhance our understanding of the mechanism of hyperlipidemia and demonstrate the effectiveness of the NMR-based metabonomics approach to study a complex disease.