The HuMet Repository: Watching human metabolism at work.

Metabolism oscillates between catabolic and anabolic states depending on food intake, exercise, or stresses that change a multitude of metabolic pathways simultaneously. We present the HuMet Repository for exploring dynamic metabolic responses to oral glucose/lipid loads, mixed meals, 36-h fasting, exercise, and cold stress in healthy subjects. Metabolomics data from blood, urine, and breath of 15 young, healthy men at up to 56 time points are integrated and embedded within an interactive web application, enabling researchers with and without computational expertise to search, visualize, analyze, and contextualize the dynamic metabolite profiles of 2,656 metabolites acquired on multiple platforms. With examples, we demonstrate the utility of the resource for research into the dynamics of human metabolism, highlighting differences and similarities in systemic metabolic responses across challenges and the complementarity of metabolomics platforms. The repository, providing a reference for healthy metabolite changes to six standardized physiological challenges, is freely accessible through a web portal.
Competing Interests: Declaration of interests R.P.M. reports previously working for Metabolon, Inc., and being employed by, and having ownership interest in, Owlstone Medical, Inc. M.A. and G.K. are co-inventors (through Duke University/Helmholtz Zentrum München) on patents regarding applications of metabolomics in diseases of the central nervous system and hold equity in Chymia, LLC, and intellectual property in PsyProtix and Atai that are exploring the potential for therapeutic applications targeting mitochondrial metabolism in depression.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)