Aksenov Alexander A, Yeates Laura, Pasamontes Alberto, Siebe Craig, Zrodnikov Yuriy, Simmons Jason, McCartney Mitchell M, Deplanque Jean-Pierre, Wells Randall S, Davis Cristina E
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California , Davis, California 95616, United States.
Anal Chem. 2014 Nov 4;86(21):10616-24. doi: 10.1021/ac5024217. Epub 2014 Oct 17.
Changing ocean health and the potential impact on marine mammal health are gaining global attention. Direct health assessments of wild marine mammals, however, is inherently difficult. Breath analysis metabolomics is a very attractive assessment tool due to its noninvasive nature, but it is analytically challenging. It has never been attempted in cetaceans for comprehensive metabolite profiling. We have developed a method to reproducibly sample breath from small cetaceans, specifically Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). We describe the analysis workflow to profile exhaled breath metabolites and provide here a first library of volatile and nonvolatile compounds in cetacean exhaled breath. The described analytical methodology enabled us to document baseline compounds in exhaled breath of healthy animals and to study changes in metabolic content of dolphin breath with regard to a variety of factors. The method of breath analysis may provide a very valuable tool in future wildlife conservation efforts as well as deepen our understanding of marine mammals biology and physiology.
海洋健康的变化及其对海洋哺乳动物健康的潜在影响正日益受到全球关注。然而，对野生海洋哺乳动物进行直接的健康评估本质上是困难的。呼吸分析代谢组学因其非侵入性的特点，是一种非常有吸引力的评估工具，但在分析上具有挑战性。在鲸类动物中，从未尝试过进行全面的代谢物谱分析。我们开发了一种方法，可从小型鲸类动物，特别是大西洋宽吻海豚（Tursiops truncatus）中可重复地采集呼吸样本。我们描述了分析呼出气体代谢物的工作流程，并在此提供了第一个鲸类动物呼出气体中挥发性和非挥发性化合物的库。所描述的分析方法使我们能够记录健康动物呼出气体中的基线化合物，并研究海豚呼出气体代谢成分在各种因素影响下的变化。呼吸分析方法可能会在未来的野生动物保护工作中提供非常有价值的工具，同时加深我们对海洋哺乳动物生物学和生理学的理解。
