Catharina M Mels, Christian Delles, Roan Louw, Aletta E. Schutte

Central systolic pressure and a nonessential amino acid metabolomics profile: the African Prospective study on the Early Detection and Identification of Cardiovascular disease and Hypertension

J Hyperten. 2019 Jun;37(6):1157-1166.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6513088/

1) Summarize your work in one sentence.

In this hypothesis generating study we investigated a metabolomics profile associated with central blood pressure and arterial stiffness in young (aged 20-30 years) black and white adults.

2) Summarize your findings in one sentence.

In young black adults with normal BP and arterial stiffness profiles, we identified a unique metabolomics signature consisting of more abundant levels of nonessential amino acids despite lower dietary protein intake. In addition, these non-essential amino acids were inversely associated with central BP. Since black populations seem to be more prone to early vascular ageing, we proposed an altered metabolic pathway as possible mechanism to maintain collagen biosynthesis and stability and thereby delay the onset of early vascular ageing.

3) Which were the more important methods you used in this work? If it is not a traditional method, you can briefly explain the concept of that methodology.

The use of three analytical platforms for the analyses of metabolomics data is one of the major strengths of this study. These platforms included Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and gas chromatography-time of flight-mass spectrometry.

4) What did you learn from this paper, what was your take-home message?

The findings of this paper suggest that metabolic processes may adapt to environmental factors such as a low protein diet, in an attempt to conserve important functions such as maintaining the synthesis and stability of collagen.

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