Metabolomic identification of potential phospholipid biomarkers for chronic glomerulonephritis by using high performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

Plasma phospholipids metabolic profile of chronic glomerulonephritis was investigated using high performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) and principal component analysis. The plasma samples of 18 patients with chronic glomerulonephritis, 17 patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) without renal replacement therapy and 18 healthy persons were collected and analyzed. It was found that combination of the LC/MS technique with PCA can be successfully applied to phospholipid profile analysis. The results showed that primary chronic glomerulonephritis and CRF had phospholipids metabolic abnormality. Nineteen phospholipid species were identified as possible biomarkers in plasma samples of chronic glomerulonephritis and chronic renal failure. Moreover, the identification of the molecular structure of the potential phospholipid markers was obtained by ESI-MS/MS experiment. It suggests that phospholipids can be used as potential biomarkers on the progress of primary chronic glomerulonephritis.