Targeting amino acids metabolic profile to identify novel metabolic characteristics in atrial fibrillation

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia whose incidence is on the rise globally. However, the pathophysiologic mechanism of AF remains poorly understood and there has been a lack of circulatory markers to diagnose and predict prognosis of AF. In the present study, by measuring metabolic profile and analyzing plasma amino acid levels in AF patients, we sought to determine whether amino acid metabolism was correlated to the occurrence of AF. Methods: Consecutive patients admitted to hospital for AF were enrolled. Plasma samples were obtained after overnight fast and a profile of 61 amino acids was then measured using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Results: Twenty-three AF and thirty-seven control patients were enrolled in the study. A number of plasma amino acids were altered in AF, which showed significant prediction value for AF. Intriguingly, circulating 4-hydroxypyrrolidine-2-carboxylic was gradually lowered with the persistence of AF. Plasma amino acid levels were more strongly correlated with each other in AF as compared with control. Conclusion: By utilizing non-target metabolic profile surveys, we have found a number of altered amino acids, which exhibit diagnostic value for AF. Enhanced amino acids correlation network further identified AF as a metabolism disorder.