Zilundu Prince Last Mudenda, Gatsi Anesuishe Blessings, Chapupu Tapiwa, Zhou Lihua
Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Ajman University, Ajman 346, United Arab Emirates.
Department of Anatomy, University of Zimbabwe, Harare MP167, Zimbabwe.
Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Jul 17;26(14):6864. doi: 10.3390/ijms26146864.
Brachial plexus root avulsion [BPRA] and concomitant spinal cord injury [SCI] represent devastating injuries that come with limited hope for recovery owing to the adult spinal cord's loss of intrinsic ability to spontaneously regenerate. BPRA/SCI is an enormous public health issue the world over, and its catastrophic impact goes beyond the patient, the family, businesses, and national health budgets, draining billions of dollars annually. The rising population and economic growth have seen the incidence of SCI surging. Genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic studies have yielded loads of information on the various molecular events that precede, regulate, and support both regenerative and degenerative pathways post-SCI. Metabolomics, on the other hand, comes in as the search for a cure and the objective monitoring of SCI severity and prognosis remains on the horizon. Despite the large number of review articles on metabolomics and its application fields such as in cancer and diabetes research, there is no comprehensive review on metabolite profiling to study disease mechanisms, biomarkers, or neuroprotection in SCI. First, we present a short review on BPRA/SCI. Second, we discuss potential benefits of metabolomics as applied in BPRA/SCI cases. Next, a look at the analytical techniques that are used in metabolomics. Next, we present an overview of the studies that have used metabolomics to reveal SCI metabolic fingerprints and point out areas of further investigation. Finally, we discuss future research directions.
臂丛神经根撕脱伤[BPRA]合并脊髓损伤[SCI]是极具毁灭性的损伤，由于成体脊髓自身失去了自发再生的能力，恢复的希望渺茫。BPRA/SCI是一个全球性的重大公共卫生问题，其灾难性影响不仅涉及患者、家庭、企业和国家卫生预算，每年还耗费数十亿美元。随着人口增长和经济发展，SCI的发病率不断上升。基因组学、转录组学和蛋白质组学研究已经产生了大量有关SCI后再生和退变途径之前、调控和支持这些途径的各种分子事件的信息。另一方面，代谢组学作为寻找治疗方法以及对SCI严重程度和预后进行客观监测的手段仍在探索之中。尽管有大量关于代谢组学及其在癌症和糖尿病研究等应用领域的综述文章，但尚无关于代谢物谱分析以研究SCI疾病机制、生物标志物或神经保护作用的全面综述。首先，我们对BPRA/SCI进行简要综述。其次，我们讨论代谢组学应用于BPRA/SCI病例的潜在益处。接下来，看看代谢组学中使用的分析技术。然后，我们概述那些利用代谢组学揭示SCI代谢指纹的研究，并指出进一步研究的领域。最后，我们讨论未来的研究方向。
