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Exhaled breath condensate methods adapted from human studies using longitudinal metabolomics for predicting early health alterations in dolphins

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Abstract

Monitoring health conditions is essential to detect early asymptomatic stages of a disease. To achieve this, blood, urine and breath samples are commonly used as a routine clinical diagnostic. These samples offer the opportunity to detect specific metabolites related to diseases and provide a better understanding of their development. Although blood samples are commonly used routinely to monitor health, the implementation of a relatively noninvasive technique, such as exhaled breath condensate (EBC) analysis, may further benefit the well-being of both humans and other animals. EBC analysis can be used to track possible physical or biochemical alterations caused by common diseases of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), such as infections or inflammatory-mediated processes. We have used an untargeted metabolomic method with liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis of EBC samples to determine biomarkers related to disease development. In this study, five dolphins under human care were followed up for 1 year. We collected paired blood, physical examination information, and EBC samples. We then statistically correlated this information to predict specific health alterations. Three dolphins provided promising case study information about biomarkers related to cutaneous infections, respiratory infections, dental disease, or hormonal changes (pregnancy). The use of complementary liquid chromatography platforms, with hydrophilic interaction chromatography and reverse-phased columns, allowed us to detect a wide spectrum of EBC biomarker compounds that could be related to these health alterations. Moreover, these two analytical techniques not only provided complementary metabolite information but in both cases they also provided promising diagnostic information for these health conditions.

Collection of the exhaled condensed breath from a bottlenose dolphin from U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program (MMP)

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Acknowledgements

Support for these investigations was provided by the Office of Naval Research grant N-00014-13-1-0580 (CED, SV-W, BCW), National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants 1U01EB022003-01, UL1RR024146-06, 1P30ES023513-01A1, and UG3-OD023365 (CED) and T32-HL007013 and T32-ES007059 (MS), and University of California, Davis School of Medicine and NIH 8KL2TR000134-07 K12 mentored training award and NIH grant 1K23HL127185-01A1 (MS). Student support was provided by NIH award T32 HL07013 (KOZ) and NIH award P42ES004699 (KOZ).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Eva Borras, Alexander A. Aksenov, Konstantin O. Zamuruyev, Alberto Pasamontes & Cristina E. Davis

  2. Translational Medicine and Research Program, National Marine Mammal Foundation, 2240 Shelter Island Drive, Suite 200, San Diego, CA, 92106, USA

    Mark Baird, Brittany Novick, Celeste Parry & Stephanie Venn-Watson

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of California, Davis, Sacramento, CA, 95617, USA

    Michael Schivo

  4. Center for Comparative Respiratory Biology and Medicine, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Michael Schivo

  5. School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, 1089 Veterinary Medicine Drive, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Soraya Foutouhi & Bart C. Weimer

Authors
  1. Eva Borras
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  2. Alexander A. Aksenov
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  3. Mark Baird
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  4. Brittany Novick
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  5. Michael Schivo
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  6. Konstantin O. Zamuruyev
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  7. Alberto Pasamontes
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  8. Celeste Parry
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  9. Soraya Foutouhi
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  10. Stephanie Venn-Watson
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  11. Bart C. Weimer
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  12. Cristina E. Davis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristina E. Davis.

Ethics declarations

This work was performed under an animal care and use protocol reviewed and approved by the US Navy Marine Mammal Program Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. The US Navy has elected to file patent application 14/859,612 on the dolphin breath sampler used in this work. The patent rights are assigned to the government, and the authors declare they have no financial conflicts of interest.

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Borras, E., Aksenov, A.A., Baird, M. et al. Exhaled breath condensate methods adapted from human studies using longitudinal metabolomics for predicting early health alterations in dolphins. Anal Bioanal Chem 409, 6523–6536 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0581-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0581-6

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