A Comprehensive GC-TOFMS Metabolomics Workflow

Significance of the Topic

Diabetes mellitus, and especially type 2 diabetes (T2DM), poses a growing global health burden, affecting hundreds of millions of individuals with serious complications such as cardiovascular disease, renal failure, and blindness. Early detection and monitoring rely increasingly on metabolomics approaches that can reveal biomarker patterns in biological fluids. Comprehensive analytical workflows combining automated sample preparation, gas chromatography, and time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOFMS) with advanced data processing enable high‐throughput discovery of candidate metabolites associated with disease onset and progression.

Objectives and Study Overview

The primary aim was to develop and validate a streamlined GC-TOFMS metabolomics workflow for plasma samples that differentiates T2DM patients from healthy controls. Key steps included:

• Automated derivatization of plasma extracts from 15 T2DM subjects and 15 controls.
• Data acquisition on a LECO Pegasus BT GC-TOFMS platform.
• Processing with ChromaTOF Sync and ChromaTOF BT software for peak detection, alignment, annotation, and statistical evaluation.

Methodology and Sample Preparation

Plasma aliquots (100 µL) were protein‐precipitated with cold methanol (400 µL), vortexed, centrifuged, and the supernatant dried under vacuum and lyophilization. Derivatization was automated using an L-PAL3 autosampler by adding MTBSTFA with 1 % TBDMCS and heating at 75 °C for 45 min. Each sample was analyzed in triplicate to ensure reproducibility.

Instrumental Setup

• Gas chromatograph: Agilent 7890 with L-PAL 3 autosampler.
• Column: Rxi-5MS, 30 m × 0.25 mm i.d. × 0.25 µm.
• Injection: 1.0 µL split 20:1 at 250 °C.
• Carrier gas: He at 1.4 mL/min constant flow.
• Oven program: 50 °C (0.5 min), ramp 10 °C/min to 300 °C (hold 10 min).
• Mass spectrometer: LECO Pegasus BT TOFMS; EI ionization; source at 250 °C; m/z 45–650; acquisition 10 spectra/s.

Results and Discussion

ChromaTOF Sync processing enabled peak finding, retention alignment, and PCA clustering, revealing significant separation (p < 0.01) between T2DM and control groups. Annotated candidate biomarkers included branched‐chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, valine), 3‐hydroxybutyric acid, uric acid, and hypoxanthine. Extracted ion chromatograms and spectral similarity scores confirmed elevated levels of these metabolites in T2DM samples. Complementary processing with ChromaTOF BT improved deconvolution and database matching, yielding an average spectral similarity score of ≈820/1000 for a representative compound set including organic acids, amino acids, fatty acids, and sterols.

Benefits and Practical Applications

Implementing this automated GC-TOFMS workflow offers:

• High throughput and reproducibility through robotic derivatization.
• Comprehensive metabolome coverage with sensitive TOF detection.
• Robust data alignment and statistical analysis for biomarker discovery.
• Improved metabolite confidence by integrating ChromaTOF Sync and BT processing.

This approach can support early disease screening, therapeutic monitoring, and mechanistic studies in clinical and research laboratories.

Future Trends and Opportunities

Emerging directions include:

• Integration of retention index libraries and in‐house compound databases for enhanced annotation.
• Coupling with multivariate machine learning algorithms to refine biomarker panels.
• Miniaturized and multiplexed sampling for longitudinal patient monitoring.
• Expansion to other biofluids and disease states for broader clinical impact.

Conclusion

A fully automated, GC-TOFMS‐based metabolomics workflow was established, combining LECO Pegasus BT instrumentation and ChromaTOF Sync/BT software to reliably annotate T2DM candidate biomarkers. The method delivers comprehensive data, robust statistical separation, and high confidence in compound identification, offering a powerful platform for disease biomarker discovery and clinical metabolomics.

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