As a major component of the extracellular fluid of the central nervous system, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is rich in small molecule biomarkers used in neurodegenerative and neurological disorders. Although cerebrospinal fluid is not readily available, its metabolism is relatively simple. Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid reflects intrinsic alterations and characteristic metabolic information about the existing microenvironment of the central nervous system. The use of metabolites in the cerebrospinal fluid to study CNS disorders facilitates biomedical research and clinical diagnosis and monitoring.
The cerebrospinal fluid has a virtually unchanged composition, is continuously secreted, and functions to maintain a stable environment in the brain. Therefore, analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid metabolome can provide metabolic and biomarker information for brain injury, Parkinson's disease, and other central nervous system diseases.
High-throughput metabolomics techniques available for CSF analysis include LC-MS, GC-MS, DFI-MS/MS, and ICP-MS. Cerebrospinal fluid is rich in trace metals, which play an important role in enzyme function and many neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and other related disorders. As the best technique to characterize metal elements in biological samples, ICP-MS can be used to quantify trace metals in CSF. The DFI-MS/MS technique provides a quantitative platform for a wide range of compounds that cannot be identified by GC-MS and LC-MS.
An illustration of the extraction of metabolites and LC/MS analysis (Bohnert et al., 2021)
Creative Proteomics offers customized metabolomics analysis services for cerebrospinal fluid samples. We are able to perform metabolite identification, metabolic profiling, differential metabolite screening and metabolic pathway analysis based on targeted and untargeted metabolomics technologies.
What We Can Provide:
- Metabolic profile analysis
- Screening for differential metabolites
- Metabolic pathway analysis of differential metabolites
- Discover new biomarkers
- Mode: SRM / MRM
- Analysis content: Standard curve creation. Raw data preprocessing. Absolute quantification of metabolites.
Sample Collection
The volume of cerebrospinal fluid samples is small and the content of most metabolites and proteins in cerebrospinal fluid is very low. Therefore, the collection should be done carefully to avoid contamination of cerebrospinal fluid with blood. Contamination can lead to a significant increase in protein content in the cerebrospinal fluid, as well as a large change in the metabolic profile and reduced stability.
The volume of each cerebrospinal fluid sample used for metabolite analysis is 0.5 to 1.0 ml.
Cerebrospinal fluid samples should be stored in a refrigerator at -80°C. Avoid repeated freeze-thaws.
Deliverables
- Experimental procedure
- Parameters of chromatography and mass spectrometry
- MS raw data files and MS data quality checks
- Bioinformatics analysis report
Turnaround time: 2-6 weeks
Bioinformatics Analysis
| Standard analysis | Data quality control (QC correlation analysis, PCA analysis of total samples) |
| Qualitative and quantitative results of metabolites |
| Differential metabolite screening (PCA, PLS-DA dimensionality reduction treatment, volcano map) |
| Differential metabolite analysis (Venn diagram, cluster heat map, metabolite correlation analysis, Z-score analysis, pathway analysis, ROC analysis) |
| Personalized analysis | Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) |
| One way ANOVA |
Creative Proteomics provides metabolomics services for cerebrospinal fluid samples, and will deliver accurate and detailed data and analysis reports to you. If you want to know more, please contact us.
Reference
- Bohnert, S., et al. (2021). Metabolomics in postmortem cerebrospinal fluid diagnostics: a state-of-the-art method to interpret central nervous system–related pathological processes. International Journal of Legal Medicine, 135(1), 183-191.
For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.
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