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. 2023 Mar 18;13(3):445.
doi: 10.3390/metabo13030445.

NMR-Based Metabolomics Demonstrates a Metabolic Change during Early Developmental Stages from Healthy Infants to Young Children

Liana Bastos Freitas-Fernandes  1 , Gabriela Pereira Fontes  2 , Aline Dos Santos Letieri  2 , Ana Paula Valente  1 , Ivete Pomarico Ribeiro de Souza  2 , Tatiana Kelly da Silva Fidalgo  3
Affiliations

NMR-Based Metabolomics Demonstrates a Metabolic Change during Early Developmental Stages from Healthy Infants to Young Children

Liana Bastos Freitas-Fernandes et al. Metabolites. .

Abstract

The present study aims to identify the salivary metabolic profile of healthy infants and young children, and to correlate this with age, salivary gland maturation, and dentition. Forty-eight children were selected after clinical evaluation in which all intraoral structures were examined. Total unstimulated saliva was collected, and salivary metabolites were analyzed by 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) at 25 °C. Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), orthogonal PLS-DA (O-PLS-DA), and univariate analysis were used, adopting a 95% confidence interval. The study showed a distinct salivary metabolomic profile related to age and developmental phase. The saliva of children in the pre-eruption teeth period showed a different metabolite profile than that of children after the eruption. However, more evident changes were observed in the saliva profile of children older than 30 months. Alanine, choline, ethanol, lactate, and sugar region were found in higher levels in the saliva of patients before 30 months old. Acetate, N-acetyl sugar, butyrate, caproate, creatinine, leucine, phenylalanine, propionate, valine, succinate, and valerate were found to be more abundant in the saliva of children after 30 months old. The saliva profile is a result of changes in age and dental eruption, and these findings can be useful for monitoring the physiological changes that occur in infancy.

Keywords: children; infant; metabolites; metabolome; nuclear magnetic resonance; saliva.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representative 1H-NMR spectrum of the saliva of young children (20 months old): the 0.5 to 4.5 ppm region.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Multivariate analysis of NMR data. (A) PLS-DA and (B) O-PLS-DA data from children before and after dental eruption; (D) PLS-DA and (E) O-PLS-DA data from children younger vs. older than 30 months. (C,F) shows VIP scores for the metabolites that were responsible for differences between the groups.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Normalized intensity of the peaks representing the amount of each metabolite (y axis) in each child’s saliva, throughout the months of life (x axis). Blue and red colors show subjects without and with teeth, respectively.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Dendrogram demonstrating the clustering of children < and >30 months of age.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Top 25 metabolic pathways related to the comparison of salivary metabolites from infants < and >30 months old.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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