Serum metabonomics study of adenine-induced chronic renal failure in rats by ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

An ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC Q-TOF MS) metabonomics approach was employed to study the serum metabolic profiling of adenine-induced chronic renal failure (CRF) rats. Acquired data were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) for differentiating the CRF and the normal control groups. Potential biomarkers were screened by using S-plot and were identified by the accurate mass, isotopic pattern and MS/MS fragments information obtained from UPLC Q-TOF MS analysis. Significant differences in the serum level of creatinine, amino acids and LysoPCs were observed, indicating the perturbations of amino acid metabolism and phospholipid metabolism in adenine-induced CRF rats. This research proved that metabonomics is a promising tool for disease research.