GC/MS-based metabolomic analysis of alleviated renal ischemia-reperfusion injury induced by remote ischemic preconditioning.

OBJECTIVE Dysfunctional metabolisms have contributed towards ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, the role of remote ischemic preconditioning (RIP) in I/R injury is not well known. The present study showed alleviated I/R injury in kidneys treated with RIP. MATERIALS AND METHODS We utilized GC/MS-based metabolomics to characterize the variation of metabolomes. RESULTS Metabolic category using differential metabolites showed the lower percentage of amino acids in I/R group in comparison to RIP+I/R group, confirming the importance of amino acid metabolism in RIP-treated rat kidney. Further, pathway enrichment analysis showed alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism to be involved in the beneficial effects of RIP during renal I/R injury. Furthermore, another crucial enrichment pathway is biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids. Other vital metabolites detected in independent component analysis (ICA) analysis were d-glucose, lactic acid and cholesterol. The variation tendency of above-mentioned metabolites was overall consistent with the protective nature of RIP. CONCLUSIONS These findings elicited a viewpoint that metabolic strategy affected by RIP are linked to underlying mechanisms of RIP and highlighted the importance of metabolic strategy against I/R injury.