Preliminary study on plasma metabolites of total body irradiation patients

Objective: To investigate radiation-related human plasma metabolic features by using metabonomics method and to analyze relative metabolic pathway. Methods: The plasma samples of 40 patients pre-and post-total body irradiation (TBI) from January 2012 to May 2014 were collected, and the effect of TBI on human plasma metabolites was studied by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the differential plasma metabolic features related to irradiation damage were screened. Results: The levels of glucose, myristic acid, oxalic acid, 3-hydroxy butyric acid, urea, aspartic acid, valine, leucine, lysine and threonine in plasma were significantly(P < 0.05) increased after TBI, while the levels of cholesterol, pyruvic acid, propionic acid, lactic acid, alanine, glycine, inositol, sorbitan, ethylene glycol and hypoxanthine were decreased drastically(P < 0.05). Conclusions: TBI could cause significant changes in the levels of human plasma metabolites including amino acid metabolism, glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism and so on. (authors)