¹H-NMR Spectroscopy of Blood Plasma for Detection of Changes in Metabolism during the Development of M-1 Sarcoma in Rats

The effectiveness of ¹H-NMR-based metabolomic analysis for the detection of metabolic changes during carcinogenesis was assessed based on a comparison of the quantitative composition of metabolites in the blood plasma of healthy rats and rats that receiving M-1 sarcoma grafts. Plasma was collected from the rats under study on day 12 and day 36 after sarcoma transplantation to identify metabolites associated with tumor development. Analysis of the NMR spectra using multivariate statistical methods showed differences in the composition of metabolites for the groups of animals under study as soon as on day 12 after sarcoma transplantation; on day 36 the differences were significant. Twenty three metabolites were quantified. On day 12, only the lactate and allantoin levels were significantly different between the groups, while on day 36, the levels of nine metabolites were different between the two groups. All of the identified metabolites are involved in cancer metabolism, which makes ¹H-NMR spectroscopy a promising method for cancer diagnosis.