代谢组学是对生物体受外部刺激所产生的小分子代谢产物的变化或其随时间的变化进行研究的一门学科,以实现对体液、细胞以及组织提取物等复杂的生物样本中所有代谢产物的定性和定量分析为研究目标。色谱-质谱联用技术在代谢组学的研究中已显示出极大的发展潜力。本文主要综述近年来代谢组学研究中涉及的色谱-质谱联用技术及其数据处理方法,重点介绍各种分离技术的特点及其在应用中的关键问题,并对其在代谢组学应用中的未来发展给予展望。
Metabonomics (or metabolomics) is one of platforms for function genomics and systems biology. Metabonomics focuses on the changes of low molecular mass metabolites in complex samples such as biofluids, cells and tissue/tissue extracts. Although it has not been possible for quantitative measurements of global metabolite profiling, the combination of chromatography-mass spectrometry and chemometrics has secured a central role in metabonomics research. Here, applications of chromatography-mass spectrometry in metabonomics are reviewed, the advantages and disadvantages of various separation techniques including gas chromatography, liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis are emphasized, their further developments in metabonomics field are prospected.