Potential biomarkers in the urine of myocardial infarction rats: a metabolomic method and its application

A metabolomic method using reversed-phase liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF-MS) was developed to obtain a systematic view of the development and progression of myocardial infarction (MI). By combining with partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), 16 biomarkers in rat urine were identified and eight of them were related to the pathway of energy metabolism. Among the regulated pathways, the citric acid cycle related network was acutely perturbed. The metabolomic results not only supplied a systematic view of the development and progression of MI but also provided the theoretical basis for the prevention or treatment of MI. The developed method was also used to analyze the therapeutic effects of a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) named Shexiang Baoxin Pill (SBP), a widely used anti-MI medicine in clinics. The results showed that SBP administration could provide satisfactory effects on MI through partially regulating the perturbed pathway of energy metabolism.