Serum metabolomic analysis of lumbar disc herniation at different location based on UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS: a population study

IF 1.5 Q3 ORTHOPEDICS

Journal of orthopaedics Pub Date : 2025-07-22 DOI:10.1016/j.jor.2025.07.018

Xinchang Zhu , Xingliang Xiang , Ling Zhu , Chengwu Song , Cheng Chen , Yunzhou Zuo , Zhaoxiang Zeng , Xugui Li , Rongzeng Huang , Shuna Jin

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Almost all elderly individuals will encounter varying degrees of trouble caused by intervertebral disc degeneration. As a common degenerative spinal disorder, the harm of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) depends on the location of the nucleus pulposus herniation. However, population studies on the mechanisms of disc herniation at different levels are limited. Therefore, we conducted comparative analyses of serum metabolic characteristics in LDH patients with disc herniation at different locations.

Methods

In this study, 110 LDH patients (59 patients with L4-L5 protrusion site and 51 patients with L4-L5 protrusion site) were collected from June 2nd to October 1st, 2023 in Wuhan City, China. Untargeted metabolomics analysis based on ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS) was analyzed the serum metabolic characteristics.

Results

As a result of principal component analysis (PCA) analysis, there was a clear separation trend in the metabolic profiles between L4-L5 and L5-S1 LDH patients in males, but not in females. Further, 28 metabolites with significant changes were screened in males with L4-L5 disc herniation compared to males with L5-S1 disc herniation. Among them, 25 metabolites were involved in glycerophospholipid metabolism, sphingolipid metabolism and tryptophan metabolism.

Conclusion

These findings demonstrate gender-specific differences in LDH patients. Moreover, the location-specific metabolic signatures in males were uncovered. This study could provide new insights into the gender-specific degenerative mechanisms associated with lesions in different locations, and inform targeted rehabilitation strategies for managing LDH.

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基于UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS的不同部位腰椎间盘突出症血清代谢组学分析：一项人群研究

几乎所有的老年人都会遇到不同程度的椎间盘退变引起的麻烦。腰椎间盘突出症是一种常见的退行性脊柱疾病，腰椎间盘突出症的危害与髓核突出的位置有关。然而，不同水平椎间盘突出机制的人群研究是有限的。因此，我们对LDH合并椎间盘突出患者不同部位的血清代谢特征进行了比较分析。方法本研究于2023年6月2日至10月1日收集武汉市LDH患者110例，其中L4-L5部位突出59例，L4-L5部位突出51例。基于超高压液相色谱-四极杆飞行时间质谱（UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS）的非靶向代谢组学分析分析了血清代谢特征。结果主成分分析（PCA）结果显示，L4-L5和L5-S1 LDH患者的代谢谱在男性中有明显的分离趋势，而在女性中没有。此外，与L5-S1椎间盘突出患者相比，我们在L4-L5椎间盘突出男性患者中筛选了28种有显著变化的代谢物。其中25种代谢物参与甘油磷脂代谢、鞘脂代谢和色氨酸代谢。结论LDH患者存在性别差异。此外，在男性中发现了特定位置的代谢特征。该研究可以为不同部位病变相关的性别特异性退行性机制提供新的见解，并为治疗LDH提供有针对性的康复策略。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of orthopaedics ORTHOPEDICS-

CiteScore

3.50

自引率

6.70%

发文量

202

审稿时长

56 days

期刊介绍： Journal of Orthopaedics aims to be a leading journal in orthopaedics and contribute towards the improvement of quality of orthopedic health care. The journal publishes original research work and review articles related to different aspects of orthopaedics including Arthroplasty, Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, Trauma, Spine and Spinal deformities, Pediatric orthopaedics, limb reconstruction procedures, hand surgery, and orthopaedic oncology. It also publishes articles on continuing education, health-related information, case reports and letters to the editor. It is requested to note that the journal has an international readership and all submissions should be aimed at specifying something about the setting in which the work was conducted. Authors must also provide any specific reasons for the research and also provide an elaborate description of the results.