Investigation of gender-specific exhaled breath volatome in humans by GCxGC-TOF-MS

Anal Chem. 2014 Jan 21;86(2):1229-37. doi: 10.1021/ac403541a. Epub 2013 Dec 27.

Abstract

Exploring gender-specific metabolic differences in biofluids provides a basic understanding of the physiological and metabolic phenotype of healthy subjects. Many reports have shown gender-specific metabolome profiles in the urine and serum of healthy subjects; however, limited studies focusing on exhaled human breath are available in the literature. In this study, we profiled the exhaled breath (~450 mL) volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of 47 healthy volunteers (age: 19-47; 23 male (M) and 24 female (F)) using a multidimensional gas chromatography and mass spectrometry and employed chemometric analysis to identify gender-specific VOCs. Eleven exhaled breath VOCs were identified from both uni and multivariate analysis from a training set (M = 15, F = 15) that could differentiate the genders within a healthy population. A partial least-squares discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) model built using these putative markers showed high accuracy in predicting (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve >0.9) a hold out/test sample set (n = 17). The outcomes of this report open up new avenues to undertake larger studies to elucidate the association of exhaled breath metabolites with gender-specific disease phenotypes and pharmacokinetics in the future.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Analysis of Variance
  • Biomarkers / analysis
  • Breath Tests
  • Discriminant Analysis
  • Exhalation / physiology*
  • Female
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Healthy Volunteers
  • Humans
  • Least-Squares Analysis
  • Male
  • Metabolome*
  • Middle Aged
  • ROC Curve
  • Sex Factors
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
  • Volatile Organic Compounds / analysis*

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Volatile Organic Compounds