Review on Application of NMR Spectroscopy to study Parkinson's Disease

Objective

Metabolite changes in biofluids, tissues and tumours can be studied to identify metabolomic changes to correlate them to a disease (PD produces disturbances in the metabolome). The biomarkers for the same are recognized by monitoring these changes. Complicated biological samples such as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), blood and urine can be analysed using NMR spectroscopy that aids in increasing the translation of information. The different types of NMR include proton NMR (H-NMR), Carbon NMR (C-NMR), Heteronuclear Single Quantum Coherence (HSQC), Heteronuclear Multiple Bond Correlation (HMBC) and so on.

Background

NMR is based on the measurement of proton wide-line spectra in its early stages. Later on, the deuteron NMR (2H NMR) technique gained popularity since it offered information about polymer molecular processes. The solid-state NMR (SSNMR) approach, as well as the 13C cross-polarization magic angle spinning NMR (13C CP/MAS NMR), gained popularity after that. The proton high-resolution magic angle spinning NMR (HR-MAS NMR) was created after that for use in biomedical applications. Additional information, such as molecular reorientations of some nuclei, such as 13C, 15N, or 31P, has been obtained using two-dimensional (2D) NMR.

Methods

The application of NMR consists of a typical one-dimensional (1D) 1H NMR spectrum that can be acquired in a few minutes using an automated high throughput protocol. An important potential of metabolomics is the identification of biomarkers to diagnose PD, to monitor disease progression, and to evaluate a patient’s response to treatment. Thus, one of the primary goals of metabolomics is to identify the specific metabolites significantly perturbed in response to a disease state. Critical information on cellular processes, molecular interactions and metabolic pathways associated with PD is thus obtained.

Results/Advantages

NMR based techniques eliminate the need of ionizing radiation, helping in avoiding exposure to harmful X-Rays. A wide range of biological processes can be studied. Combination of NMR spectroscopy and imaging helps obtain a large amount of anatomical, physiological, and metabolic data with just a single experiment. NMR techniques have a non-destructive nature, minimal sample handling, high throughput and high reproductivity.

Conclusion

This poster illuminates a brief analysis/detection of NMR metabolomics of Parkinson's disease. Metabolomics plays a huge role in the identification of possible biomarkers, metabolic mechanisms and inception of the disease progression. NMR metabolomics has a great potential in assisting the analysis/detection of the PD biomarkers, identifying novel biomarkers to diagnose PD, aid in drug discovery and the development of personalized medicine.