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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

On-Site Sampling and Extraction of Brain Tumors for Metabolomics and Lipidomics Analysis
Published on: May 31, 2020
Unbiased Lipidomics and Metabolomics of Human Brain Samples
Giuseppe Astarita1, Matteo Stocchero2, Giuseppe Paglia3
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
Abstract:
Mass spectrometry (MS)-based lipidomics and metabolomics approaches have been used to discover new diagnostic and therapeutic targets of neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we describe a protocol to conduct an integrated metabolomics and lipidomics profiling of postmortem brains of frozen tissue samples from clinically characterized patients and age-matched controls. Metabolites and lipids can be extracted from each brain tissue sample, using a biphasic liquid/liquid extraction method. An unbiased liquid chromatography MS-based lipidomics and metabolomics workflows allows to screen for the content and composition of lipids and polar metabolites for each brain tissue. Data processing and statistical analysis are then used to compare the molecular content of all the samples, grouping them into cluster based on molecular similarities. The final results highlight classes of metabolites and biochemical pathways that are altered in brain samples from diseased brains compared to those from healthy subjects, helping to generate novel hypotheses on their mechanistic and functional significance.
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