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Due to its pivotal role in NADH oxidation and ATP synthesis, mitochondrial complex I (CI) emerged as a crucial regulator of cellular metabolism. A functional CI relies on the sequential assembly of nuclear- and mtDNA-encoded subunits; however, whether CI assembly status is involved in the metabolic adaptations in CI deficiency still remains largely unknown. Here, we investigated the relationship between CI functions, its structure and the cellular metabolism in 29 patient fibroblasts representative of most CI mitochondrial diseases. Our results show that, contrary to the generally accepted view, a complex I deficiency does not necessarily lead to a glycolytic switch, i.e. the so-called Warburg effect, but that this particular metabolic adaptation is a feature of CI assembly defect. By contrast, a CI functional defect without disassembly induces a higher catabolism to sustain the oxidative metabolism. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that reactive oxygen species overproduction by CI assembly intermediates and subsequent AMPK-dependent Pyruvate Dehydrogenase inactivation are key players of this metabolic reprogramming. Thus, this study provides a two-way-model of metabolic responses to CI deficiencies that are central not only in defining therapeutic strategies for mitochondrial diseases, but also in all pathophysiological conditions involving a CI deficiency.

Thirty percent of medullary thyroid carcinomas (MTCs) are related to dominant germline pathogenic variants in the RET proto-oncogene. According to their aggressiveness, these pathogenic variants are classified in three risk levels: ‘moderate’, ‘high’ and ‘highest’. The present study compares the metabolomics profiles of five pathogenic variants, whether already classified or not. We have generated six stable murine fibroblast cell lines (NIH3T3) expressing the WT allele or variants of the human RET gene, with different levels of pathogenicity, including the M918V variant that is yet to be accurately classified. We carried out a targeted metabolomics study of the cell extracts with a QTRAP mass spectrometer, using the Biocrates Absolute IDQ p180 kit, which allows the quantification of 188 endogenous molecules. The data were then subjected to multivariate statistical analysis. One hundred seventy three metabolites were accurately measured. The metabolic profiles of the cells expressing the RET variants were found to be correlated with their oncogenic risk. In addition, the statistical model we constructed for predicting the oncogenic risk attributed a moderate risk to the M918V variant. Our results indicate that metabolomics may be useful for characterizing the pathogenicity of the RET gene variants and their levels of aggressiveness.

International audience; Purpose: To determine the plasma metabolomic signature of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).Methods: We compared the metabolomic profiles of plasma from individuals with POAG (n = 36) with age- and sex-matched controls with cataract (n = 27). A targeted metabolomics study was performed using the standardized p180 Biocrates Absolute IDQ p180 kit with a QTRAP 5500 mass spectrometer. Multivariate analyses were performed using principal component analysis (PCA) and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method.Results: Among the 151 metabolites accurately measured, combined univariate and multivariate analyses revealed 18 discriminant metabolites belonging to the carbohydrate, acyl-carnitine, phosphatidylcholine, amino acids, and polyamine families. The metabolomic signature of POAG points to three closely interdependent pathophysiologic conditions; that is, defective mitochondrial oxidation of energetic substrates, altered metabolism resembling that observed in senescence, and a deficiency in spermidine and spermine, both polyamines being involved in the protection of retinal ganglion cells.Conclusions: Our results highlight a systemic and age-related mitochondrial defect in the pathogenesis of POAG.

International audience; Purpose: To determine the plasma metabolomic signature of the exfoliative syndrome (XFS), the most common cause worldwide of secondary open-angle glaucoma.Methods: We performed a targeted metabolomic study, using the standardized p180 Biocrates Absolute IDQ p180 kit with a QTRAP 5500 mass spectrometer, to compare the metabolomic profiles of plasma from individuals with XFS (n = 16), and an age- and sex-matched control group with cataract (n = 18).Results: A total of 151 metabolites were detected correctly, 16 of which allowed for construction of an OPLS-DA model with a good predictive capability (Q2cum = 0.51) associated with a low risk of over-fitting (permQ2 = -0.48, CV-ANOVA P-value Conclusions: We identified a significant metabolomic signature in the plasma of individuals with XFS. Paradoxically, this signature, characterized by lower concentrations of the neuroprotective spermine and spermidine polyamines than in controls, partially overlaps the plasma metabolomic profile associated with insulin resistance, despite the absence of evidence of insulin resistance in XFS.

International audience; Purpose:Dominant optic atrophy (MIM No. 165500) is a blinding condition related to mutations in OPA1, a gene encoding a large GTPase involved in mitochondrial inner membrane dynamics. Although several mouse models mimicking the disease have been developed, the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for retinal ganglion cell degeneration remain poorly understood.Methods:Using a targeted metabolomic approach, we measured the concentrations of 188 metabolites in nine tissues, that is, brain, three types of skeletal muscle, heart, liver, retina, optic nerve, and plasma in symptomatic 11-month-old Opa1delTTAG/+ mice.Results:Significant metabolic signatures were found only in the optic nerve and plasma of female mice. The optic nerve signature was characterized by altered concentrations of phospholipids, amino acids, acylcarnitines, and carnosine, whereas the plasma signature showed decreased concentrations of amino acids and sarcosine associated with increased concentrations of several phospholipids. In contrast, the investigation of 3-month-old presymptomatic Opa1delTTAG/+ mice showed no specific plasma signature but revealed a significant optic nerve signature in both sexes, although with a sex effect. The Opa1delTTAG/+ versus wild-type optic nerve signature was characterized by the decreased concentrations of 10 sphingomyelins and 10 lysophosphatidylcholines, suggestive of myelin sheath alteration, and by alteration in the concentrations of metabolites involved in neuroprotection, such as dimethylarginine, carnitine, spermine, spermidine, carnosine, and glutamate, suggesting a concomitant axonal metabolic dysfunction.Conclusions:Our comprehensive metabolomic investigations revealed in symptomatic as well as in presymptomatic Opa1delTTAG/+ mice, a specific sensitiveness of the optic nerve to Opa1 insufficiency, opening new routes for protective therapeutic strategies.

International audience; STUDY QUESTION: Does the metabolomic profile of the follicular fluid (FF) of patients with a diminished ovarian reserve (DOR) differ from that of patients with a normal ovarian reserve (NOR)?SUMMARY ANSWER: The metabolomic signature of the FF reveals a significant decrease in polyunsaturated choline plasmalogens and methyl arginine transferase activity in DOR patients compared to NOR patients.WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: The composition of the FF reflects the exchanges between the oocyte and its microenvironment during its acquisition of gametic competence. Studies of the FF have allowed identification of biomarkers and metabolic pathways involved in various pathologies affecting oocyte quality, but no large metabolomic analysis in the context of ovarian ageing and DOR has been undertaken so far.STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: This was an observational study of the FF retrieved from 57 women undergoing in vitro fertilization at the University Hospital of Angers, France, from November 2015 to September 2016. The women were classified in two groups: one including 28 DOR patients, and the other including 29 NOR patients, serving as controls.PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Patients were enrolled in the morning of oocyte retrieval after ovarian stimulation. Once the oocytes were isolated for fertilization and culture, the FF was pooled and centrifuged for analysis. A targeted quantitative metabolomic analysis was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry, and the Biocrates Absolute IDQ p180 kit. The FF levels of 188 metabolites and several sums and ratios of metabolic significance were assessed by multivariate and univariate analyses.MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: A total of 136 metabolites were accurately quantified and used for calculating 23 sums and ratios. Samples were randomly divided into training and validation sets. The training set, allowed the construction of multivariate statistical models with a projection-supervised method, i.e. orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), applied to the full set of metabolites, or the penalized least absolute shrinkage and selection operator with logistic regression (LASSO-LR), applied to the ratios and sums of the metabolites. Both multivariate models showed good predictive performances when applied to the validation set. The final penalized model retained the three most significant variables, i.e. the total dimethylarginine-to-arginine ratio (Total DMA/Arginine), the sum of the polyunsaturated choline plasmalogens (PUFA ae), and the patient's age. The negative coefficients of Total DMA/Arginine and PUFA ae indicated that these FF variables had lower values in DOR patients than in NOR patients.LARGE SCALE DATA: N/A.LIMITATIONS REASONS FOR CAUTION: This study presents two limitations. First, with this targeted metabolomics analysis, we have explored only a limited portion of the FF metabolome. Second, although the signature found was highly significant, the mechanism underlying the dysfunction remains undetermined.WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: The understanding of the mechanisms implied in ovarian ageing is essential for providing an adequate response to affected women desiring pregnancy. Our study proposes an incoming signature that may open new paths towards this goal.STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): This study was supported by the University Hospital of Angers, the University of Angers, and the French national research centers, INSERM and the CNRS. There were no competing interests.

Introduction Light is the primary stimulus for vision, but may also cause damage to the retina. Pre-exposing the retina to sub-lethal amount of light (or preconditioning) improves chances for retinal cells to survive acute damaging light stress. Objectives This study aims at exploring the changes in retinal metabolome after mild light stress and identifying mechanisms that may be involved in preconditioning. Methods Retinas from 12 rats exposed to mild light stress (1000 lux × for 12 h) and 12 controls were collected one and seven days after light stress (LS). One retina was used for targeted metabolomics analysis using the Biocrates p180 kit while the fellow retina was used for histological and immunohistochemistry analysis. Results Immunohistochemistry confirmed that in this experiment, a mild LS with retinal immune response and minimal photoreceptor loss occurred. Compared to controls, LS induced an increased concentration in phosphatidylcholines. The concentration in some amino acids and biogenic amines, particularly those related to the nitric oxide pathway (like asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), arginine and citrulline) also increased 1 day after LS. 7 days after LS, the concentration in two sphingomyelins and phenylethylamine was found to be higher. We further found that in controls, retina metabolome was different between males and females: male retinas had an increased concentration in tyrosine, acetyl-ornithine, phosphatidylcholines and (acyl)-carnitines. Conclusions Besides retinal sexual metabolic dimorphism, this study shows that preconditioning is mostly associated with re-organisation of lipid metabolism and changes in amino acid composition, likely reflecting the involvement of arginine-dependent NO signalling. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11306-016-1156-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) is an attractive therapeutic procedure for protecting the heart against ischemia/reperfusion injury. Despite evidence of humoral mediators transported through the circulation playing a critical role, their actual identities so far remain unknown. We sought to identify plasmatic RIPC‐induced metabolites that may play a role. Methods and Results Rat plasma samples from RIPC and control groups were analyzed using a targeted metabolomic approach aimed at measuring 188 metabolites. Principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least‐squares discriminant analysis were used to identify the metabolites that discriminated between groups. Plasma samples from 50 patients subjected to RIPC were secondarily explored to confirm the results obtained in rats. Finally, a combination of the metabolites that were significantly increased in both rat and human plasma was injected prior to myocardial ischemia/reperfusion in rats. In the rat samples, 124 molecules were accurately quantified. Six metabolites (ornithine, glycine, kynurenine, spermine, carnosine, and serotonin) were the most significant variables for marked differentiation between the RIPC and control groups. In human plasma, analysis confirmed ornithine decrease and kynurenine and glycine increase following RIPC. Injection of the glycine and kynurenine alone or in combination replicated the protective effects of RIPC seen in rats. Conclusions We have hereby reported significant variations in a cocktail of amino acids and biogenic amines after remote ischemic preconditioning in both rat and human plasma. Clinical Trial Registration URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT01390129.

International audience; Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy (MIM#535000), the commonest mitochondrial DNA-related disease, is caused by mutations affecting mitochondrial complex I. The clinical expression of the disorder, usually occurring in young adults, is typically characterized by subacute, usually sequential, bilateral visual loss, resulting from the degeneration of retinal ganglion cells. As the precise action of mitochondrial DNA mutations on the overall cell metabolism in Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy is unknown, we investigated the metabolomic profile of the disease. High performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry was used to quantify 188 metabolites in fibroblasts from 16 patients with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy and eight healthy control subjects. Latent variable-based statistical methods were used to identify discriminating metabolites. One hundred and twenty-four of the metabolites were considered to be accurately quantified. A supervised orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis model separating patients with Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy from control subjects showed good predictive capability (Q 2cumulated = 0.57). Thirty-eight metabolites appeared to be the most significant variables, defining a Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy metabolic signature that revealed decreased concentrations of all proteinogenic amino acids, spermidine, putrescine, isovaleryl-carnitine, propionyl-carnitine and five sphingomyelin species, together with increased concentrations of 10 phosphatidylcholine species. This signature was not reproduced by the inhibition of complex I with rotenone or piericidin A in control fibroblasts. The importance of sphingomyelins and phosphatidylcholines in the Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy signature, together with the decreased amino acid pool, suggested an involvement of the endoplasmic reticulum. This was confirmed by the significantly increased phosphorylation of PERK and eIF2α, as well as the greater expression of C/EBP homologous protein and the increased XBP1 splicing, in fibroblasts from affected patients, all these changes being reversed by the endoplasmic reticulum stress inhibitor, TUDCA (tauroursodeoxycholic acid). Thus, our metabolomic analysis reveals a pharmacologically-reversible endoplasmic reticulum stress in complex I-related Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy fibroblasts, a finding that may open up new therapeutic perspectives for the treatment of Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy with endoplasmic reticulum-targeting drugs.

Background Remote ischemic preconditionning (RIPC) has emerged as an attractive therapeutic procedure to protect the heart against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Despite strong evidences of the critical role played by circulating humoral mediators for signal transduction, their identities still remain unknown. Using a targeted metabolomic approach we previously identified Glycine (GLY) and Kynurenine (KYN) as potential mediators for RIPC induced cardioprotection in both rats and humans. Aim of the study this study sought to determine whether a treatment with GLY and KYN alone or in combination could mimic the cardioprotective effect of the RIPC. Methods Male Wistar rats, 8-10 weeks exposed to myocardial I/R were allocated to one of the following six groups: Myocardial Infarction (MI), rats were subjected to myocardial I/R without any further intervention; RIPC+MI, four cycles of limb I/R were applied prior to the myocardial ischemia; Metabolites+ MI, with intraperitoneal (ip) injection of a combined GLY (0.5mg/g body weight) and KYN (0.3 mg/g body weight) 10 min before MI; Vehicle+MI, with ip injection of the vehicle 10 min before MI; GLY+MI, with ip injection of single dose of GLY 10 min before MI; and KYN+MI, with an ip injection of single dose of KYN 10 min prior to MI. Hearts were excised after 2h of reperfusion, the area at risk (AAR) and infarct size (AN) were measured after TTC staining. GLY and KYN plasma concentrations were determined by mass spectroscopy LC-MS/MS at 3 points of time: 15, 30 and 45 min after the ip injection. Results The metabolites blood assay showed a significant increase of both glycine and kynurenine in blood plasma 15 min after the intraperitoneal injection with a peak at 30 min. As compared to MI, both RIPC+MI and Metabolites+MI exhibited a smaller infarct size (AN/AAR=39.59±3.76% for Vehicle+MIvs. 27.15±4.47% for the Metabolites+MI group, and 42.49±2.42% for MIvs. 34.53±2.28% for the RIPC+MI, both p Conclusion We report that RIPC-induced cardioprotection may involve a cocktail of amino acids for signal transduction from the remote organ to the myocardium. The author hereby declares no conflict of interest