Application of a NMR-based untargeted quantitative metabonomic approach to screen for illicit salbutamol...

The use of metabonomic methodologies to identify illicit salbutamol administration in cattle has not been previously investigated. In this study, a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based untargeted quantitative metabonomic approach was applied to discriminate biofluid samples (plasma and urine) obtained from cattle before and after salbutamol treatment. Six male cattle (265.7 ± 3.9 kg) were fed salbutamol (0.15 mg/kg body weight) for 21 consecutive days. Plasma and urine samples were collected before and after treatment. By the use of targeted profiling, 46 and 43 metabolites in plasma and urine, respectively, were quantified, of which 9 and 11 metabolites were significantly affected (P < 0.05) by salbutamol treatment. Partial least squares discriminant analysis showed that both plasma and urine samples collected after treatment were well separated from those before treatment, with Q (2) values of 0.56 and 0.573 for plasma and urine samples, respectively. The variable importance plot (VIP) scores of glucose and lactate in plasma, and urine, hippurate, acetate, glycine, formate, n-phenylacetyl, benzoate, and phenylacetate in urine were >1.0, which implies that these metabolites may serve as potential biomarkers for salbutamol treatment. These findings suggest the potential value of NMR-based untargeted quantitative metabonomic methodologies for plasma and urine analyses as a screening technique for detection of illicit salbutamol usage in cattle.