Metabolome Analysis of Hydrophilic Metabolites in Saliva Using LCMS™-8060NX Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer

Introduction

The human mouth harbors as many as 9 billion bacteria of around 700 species that produce shortchain fatty acids similar to enteric bacteria. It is becoming clear that the short-chain fatty acids produced by oral bacteria have not only a harmful effect on periodontal tissue but also play a role in maintaining the oral environment. One example is anaerobic gram-negative bacteria in the mouth that produce large quantities of short-chain fatty acids (especially butyric acid) and are the main cause of periodontal disease. Metabolome analysis is recently gaining popularity as a technique for the comprehensive study of metabolites in living organisms. Metabolomics, as a field of academic study, performs comprehensive analyses of low molecular weight metabolites such as amino acids and organic acids that arise from cellular activity to reveal differences between multiple samples. An exhaustive analysis is easier to perform by metabolome analysis compared with other types of omics analysis due to the relatively small number of analytes of interest. This report describes an example metabolome analysis of saliva performed using a highperformance liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer (LC-MS-MS). Saliva is known to contain both oral bacteria and the metabolites produced by oral bacteria. The conditions under which saliva is stored prior to analysis can therefore affect the amounts of metabolites present in saliva due to the activity of these oral bacteria. We used metabolome analysis to investigate the effects of storage temperature on metabolites in saliva.

November 20, 2020 GMT