TY - JOUR
T1 - Recommendations for sample selection, collection and preparation for NMR-based metabolomics studies of blood
AU - Emwas, Abdul Hamid
AU - Zacharias, Helena U.
AU - Alborghetti, Marcos Rodrigo
AU - Gowda, G. A.Nagana
AU - Raftery, Daniel
AU - McKay, Ryan T.
AU - Chang, Chung Ke
AU - Saccenti, Edoardo
AU - Gronwald, Wolfram
AU - Schuchardt, Sven
AU - Leiminger, Roland
AU - Merzaban, Jasmeen
AU - Madhoun, Nour Y.
AU - Iqbal, Mazhar
AU - Alsiary, Rawiah A.
AU - Shivapurkar, Rupali
AU - Pain, Arnab
AU - Shanmugam, Dhanasekaran
AU - Ryan, Danielle
AU - Roy, Raja
AU - Schirra, Horst Joachim
AU - Morris, Vanessa
AU - Zeri, Ana Carolina
AU - Alahmari, Fatimah
AU - Kaddurah-Daouk, Rima
AU - Salek, Reza M.
AU - LeVatte, Marcia
AU - Berjanskii, Mark
AU - Lee, Brian
AU - Wishart, David S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025. The Author(s).
PY - 2025/5/10
Y1 - 2025/5/10
N2 - BACKGROUND: Metabolic profiling of blood metabolites, particularly in plasma and serum, is vital for studying human diseases, human conditions, drug interventions and toxicology. The clinical significance of blood arises from its close ties to all human cells and facile accessibility. However, patient-specific variables such as age, sex, diet, lifestyle and health status, along with pre-analytical conditions (sample handling, storage, etc.), can significantly affect metabolomic measurements in whole blood, plasma, or serum studies. These factors, referred to as confounders, must be mitigated to reveal genuine metabolic changes due to illness or intervention onset. REVIEW OBJECTIVE: This review aims to aid metabolomics researchers in collecting reliable, standardized datasets for NMR-based blood (whole/serum/plasma) metabolomics. The goal is to reduce the impact of confounding factors and enhance inter-laboratory comparability, enabling more meaningful outcomes in metabolomics studies. KEY CONCEPTS: This review outlines the main factors affecting blood metabolite levels and offers practical suggestions for what to measure and expect, how to mitigate confounding factors, how to properly prepare, handle and store blood, plasma and serum biosamples and how to report data in targeted NMR-based metabolomics studies of blood, plasma and serum.
AB - BACKGROUND: Metabolic profiling of blood metabolites, particularly in plasma and serum, is vital for studying human diseases, human conditions, drug interventions and toxicology. The clinical significance of blood arises from its close ties to all human cells and facile accessibility. However, patient-specific variables such as age, sex, diet, lifestyle and health status, along with pre-analytical conditions (sample handling, storage, etc.), can significantly affect metabolomic measurements in whole blood, plasma, or serum studies. These factors, referred to as confounders, must be mitigated to reveal genuine metabolic changes due to illness or intervention onset. REVIEW OBJECTIVE: This review aims to aid metabolomics researchers in collecting reliable, standardized datasets for NMR-based blood (whole/serum/plasma) metabolomics. The goal is to reduce the impact of confounding factors and enhance inter-laboratory comparability, enabling more meaningful outcomes in metabolomics studies. KEY CONCEPTS: This review outlines the main factors affecting blood metabolite levels and offers practical suggestions for what to measure and expect, how to mitigate confounding factors, how to properly prepare, handle and store blood, plasma and serum biosamples and how to report data in targeted NMR-based metabolomics studies of blood, plasma and serum.
KW - Blood
KW - Metabolites
KW - Metabolomics
KW - NMR
KW - Plasma
KW - Serum
KW - Standardization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105005235745&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11306-025-02259-7
DO - 10.1007/s11306-025-02259-7
M3 - Review article
C2 - 40348843
AN - SCOPUS:105005235745
SN - 1573-3882
VL - 21
SP - 66
JO - Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society
JF - Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society
IS - 3
ER -
