Metabolomics by UHPLC-MS: benefits provided by complementary use of Q-TOF and QQQ for pathway profiling.

Introduction: Non-targeted metabolic profiling using high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) is a standard approach for pathway identification despite technical limitations.
Objectives: To assess the performance of combining targeted quadrupole (QQQ) analysis with HRMS for in-depth pathway profiling.
Methods: Serum of exercising patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) was profiled using targeted and non-targeted assays.
Results: Non-targeted analysis yielded a broad unbiased metabolic profile, targeted analysis increased coverage of purine metabolism (twofold) and TCA cycle (three metabolites).
Conclusion: Our screening strategy combined the benefits of the unbiased full-scan HRMS acquisition with the deeper insight into specific pathways by large-scale QQQ analysis.