Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry to Mouse Liver Metabolomic Analyses

Introduction

Liver disease affects more than 800 million people worldwide causing at least 1.5 million deaths annually. Alcohol consumption and alcoholic liver disease (ALD) continue to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the US. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are persistent environmental pollutants. Exposures to PCBs have been associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Monitoring these and other diseases of the liver can be achieved by evaluating metabolites in serum or plasma but a key, basal understanding can come from evaluation of the diseased tissues themselves. Changes detected here will help understand the biology and physiology and may translate to the circulation. Mice provide a good model for this type of research.¹