2. Metabolomics: techniques and methodologies

2.1 Analytical methods: choice and presentation of technologies

The diversity of physico-chemical and structural properties, the wide dynamic range of concentrations and the as yet unknown number of molecules in the individual components of the metabolome and lipidome call for the use of a wide variety of analytical techniques. Often, only a combination of different analytical approaches can provide satisfactory coverage of the question posed.

NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry are the two techniques of choice in metabolomics for identifying and quantifying metabolites. As early as the late 1960s, NMR began to emerge as a metabolic application for profiling human biofluids. It was in 1984 that Nicholson et al. made the first real application of this analytical...