| Title: | Use of solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for determination of urinary volatile organic compounds in autistic children compared with healthy controls |
| Author(s): | Cozzolino R; De Magistris L; Saggese P; Stocchero M; Martignetti A; Di Stasio M; Malorni A; Marotta R; Boscaino F; Malorni L; |
| Address: | "Institute of Food Science, National Council of Research, via Roma 64, 83100, Avellino, Italy, rcozzolino@isa.cnr.it" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s00216-014-7855-z |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1618-2650 (Electronic) 1618-2642 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders which have a severe life-long effect on behavior and social functioning, and which are associated with metabolic abnormalities. Their diagnosis is on the basis of behavioral and developmental signs usually detected before three years of age, and there is no reliable biological marker. The objective of this study was to establish the volatile urinary metabolomic profiles of 24 autistic children and 21 healthy children (control group) to investigate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as potential biomarkers for ASDs. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) using DVB/CAR/PDMS sorbent coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to obtain the metabolomic information patterns. Urine samples were analyzed under both acid and alkaline pH, to profile a range of urinary components with different physicochemical properties. Multivariate statistics techniques were applied to bioanalytical data to visualize clusters of cases and to detect the VOCs able to differentiate autistic patients from healthy children. In particular, orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) achieved very good separation between autistic and control groups under both acidic and alkaline pH, identifying discriminating metabolites. Among these, 3-methyl-cyclopentanone, 3-methyl-butanal, 2-methyl-butanal, and hexane under acid conditions, and 2-methyl-pyrazine, 2,3-dimethyl-pyrazine, and isoxazolo under alkaline pH had statistically higher levels in urine samples from autistic children than from the control group. Further investigation with a higher number of patients should be performed to outline the metabolic origins of these variables, define a possible association with ASDs, and verify the usefulness of these variables for early-stage diagnosis" |
| Keywords: | "Area Under Curve Autistic Disorder/*urine Biomarkers/urine Child Child, Preschool Female Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/methods Humans Male Metabolomics/*methods Principal Component Analysis Solid Phase Microextraction/methods Volatile Organic Compo;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineCozzolino, Rosaria De Magistris, Laura Saggese, Paola Stocchero, Matteo Martignetti, Antonella Di Stasio, Michele Malorni, Antonio Marotta, Rosa Boscaino, Floriana Malorni, Livia eng Germany 2014/05/16 Anal Bioanal Chem. 2014 Jul; 406(19):4649-62. doi: 10.1007/s00216-014-7855-z. Epub 2014 May 15" |
