Metabolomic study of disease progression in scrapie prion infected mice; validation of a novel method for brain metabolite extraction

Introduction Prion disease is a form of neurodegenerative disease caused by the misfolding and aggregation of cellular prion protein (PrP C ). The neurotoxicity of the misfolded form of prion protein, PrP Sc still remains understudied. Here we try to investigate this issue using a metabolomics approach. Objectives The intention was to identify and quantify the small-in-size and water-soluble metabolites extracted from mice brains infected with the Rocky Mountain Laboratory isolate of mouse-adapted scrapie prions (RML) and track changes in these metabolites during disease evolution. Methods A total of 73 mice were inoculated with RML prions or normal brain homogenate control; brains were harvested at 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days post-inoculation (dpi). We devised a high-efficiency metabolite extraction method and used nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to identify and quantify 50 metabolites in the brain extracts. Data were analyzed using multivariate approach. Results Brain metabolome profiles of RML infected animals displayed continuous changes throughout the course of disease. Among the analyzed metabolites, the most noteworthy changes included increases in myo-inositol and glutamine as well as decreases in 4-aminobutyrate, acetate, aspartate and taurine. Conclusion We report a novel metabolite extraction method for lipid-rich tissue. As all the major metabolites are identifiable and quantifiable by magnetic resonance spectroscopy, this study suggests that tracking of neurochemical profiles could be effective in monitoring the progression of neurodegenerative diseases and useful for assessing the efficacy of candidate therapeutics.