Pitfall in the Diagnosis of Fructose-1,6-Bisphosphatase Deficiency: Difficulty in Detecting Glycerol-3-Phosphate with Solvent Extraction in Urinary GC/MS Analysis.

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase), an enzyme involved in gluconeogenesis, catalyzes the hydrolysis of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate to fructose-6-phosphate and inorganic phosphate. FBPase deficiency is an autosomal recessive inherited disorder, characterized by episodic attacks of hypoglycemia, ketosis, and lactic acidosis during fasting. In general, urinary organic acid analysis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is very useful for the diagnosis of FBPase deficiency, because the appearance of glycerol or glycerol-3-phosphate in the urine is characteristic of this disease. Here, we report a case of FBPase deficiency in a girl with a history of several severe lactic acidosis events, both as a neonate and after the age of 12 months. The patient was identified as a compound heterozygote with two mutations in the FBPase 1 gene: c.841G>A (p.Glu281Lys) and c.960_961insG (p.Ser321fs). The c.841G>A is a newly identified pathogenic mutation. An abnormal level of glycerol-3-phosphate was not detected in the conventional urinary organic acid analysis using GC/MS after solvent extraction. This method, which is a widely used diagnostic standard, could not detect increased levels of glycerol or glycerol-3-phosphate in the patient's urine, which was sampled during the episode. However, glycerol and glycerol-3-phosphate were detected in the same sample, when it was analyzed using GC/MS with the urease pretreatment non-extraction method. Patients with FBPase deficiency have good glycemic control after correct treatment. Therefore, accurate and early diagnosis is essential for a good prognosis. Accordingly, when a patient presents with hypoglycemia and lactic acidosis, it is important to select the appropriate method of urinalysis for organic acids by GC/MS.

Detection of urinary metabolomics before and after Pringle maneuver-induced liver ischemia and reperfusion injury in rats using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

BACKGROUND: Metabolomics studies can quantitatively detect the dynamic metabolic response of living systems. OBJECTIVE: To detect urinary metabolomics after hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury induced by the Pringle maneuver using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats (N = 80) were randomly divided into 4 groups (n = 20/group): sham operation, day 1, day 3, and day 5. Rats in the day 1, day 3, and day 5 groups underwent the Pringle maneuver. Serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and total bilirubin (TBIL) were measured, and hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining of the liver tissue was performed. GC-MS was used to detect urinary metabolomics. RESULTS: Compared with the sham group, the serum ALT and TBIL levels at day 1 were significantly elevated (P < 0.01) and then decreased and reached close to normal levels at day 5. GC-MS detected 7 metabolites which had similar changes as those of liver tissue revealed by histological examination. Significant differences in lactic acid, pyruvic acid, alanine, serine, and glycerol-3-phosphate were found among the groups (P < 0.001). Principle component analysis showed that 7 metabolites distinguished the day 1 and day 3 groups from the sham group. CONCLUSIONS: Noninvasive urinary metabolomic analysis is a potential means for the early detection and diagnosis of hepatic I/R injury.

Validation study of urinary metabolites as potential biomarkers for prostate cancer detection.

BACKGROUND: Urinary metabolomic profiles have recently drawn a lot of attention owing to a debate regarding their possible role as potential clinical markers for prostate cancer. In this study, levels of proline, kynurenine, uracil and glycerol-3-phosphate in 126 patients with genitourinary malignancies were analyzed using a validated method and compared with no evidence of malignancy. RESULTS: The statistical results showed that these biomarkers cannot differentiate prostate cancer from no evidence of malignancy or from other related cancer types, such as bladder cancer. In addition, there was no significant difference in biomarker levels for T1 stages, T2 stages and Gleason scores <7, ≥7. From the correlation study, results showed/demonstrated that age or serum prostate-specific antigen levels do not influence these metabolite concentrations in urine. However, the strong correlation between these metabolites and urinary creatinine concentrations implies that their occurrence is mainly due to renal excretion. CONCLUSION: This detailed study shows that the aforementioned urinary metabolites are not reliable biomarkers for prostate cancer detection or for differentiating the aggressiveness of prostate cancer.

Glycerophosphate is interchangeable with inorganic phosphate in terms of safety and serum pharmacokinetics.

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of the present investigation was to determine and compare the pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles of inorganic phosphate in serum and urine after intravenous administration of sodium glycerophosphate and inorganic sodium phosphate. Additionally, study product safety profiles were evaluated. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In total, 27 healthy, white volunteers (17 male/10 female) were enrolled in this double-blinded, randomized, 2-sequence, crossover study and were assigned to receive an organic test drug (sodium glycerophosphate) and an inorganic reference preparation (sodium phosphate) on 2 occasions. Validated analytical methods were used, and concentrations of total inorganic phosphate in serum and urine were determined over 24 h following a single 4-hour continuous intravenous infusion of test and reference drugs at a dose of 80 mmol. Study days were separated by washout periods of 7 days. An analysis of variance, based on population means and 90% confidence intervals (CIs), was used for testing bioequivalence (BE; range 0.8-1.25) between investigational products. RESULTS: The geometric means of the ratio of the point estimates and corresponding 90% CIs for the area under the concentration-versus-time curve of inorganic serum phosphate from 0 to 24 h (AUC(0-24)), the phosphate's maximum concentration in serum (C(max)) and the total amount of inorganic phosphate excreted in urine over 24 h corrected for individual baseline values (Ae(0-24 bc)) were estimated. The test/reference ratios for inorganic phosphate were 1.04 (CI 1.00-1.07), 0.85 (CI 0.84-0.87) and 0.84 (CI 0.77-0.92) for AUC(0-24), C(max) in serum and Ae(0-24 bc) in urine, respectively. Hence, standard BE criteria were met for AUC(0-24) and C(max) in serum, while Ae(0-24 bc) marginally failed to demonstrate BE. After drug administration, a total of 15 subjects reported the occurrence of at least 1 treatment emergent adverse event (AE). All AEs were classified as mild to moderate in severity, and the two treatment groups were equally affected. No serious AEs occurred. CONCLUSION: The serum PK profiles of inorganic phosphate were almost superimposable following intravenous administration of equimolar doses of test and reference drugs. Thus, we conclude that the two study drugs are essentially similar in terms of serum PK profiles, safety and tolerability.

Urinary sugar phosphates and related organic acids in fructose-1,6-diphosphatase deficiency.

Two sisters with fructose-1,6-diphosphatase deficiency are reported. They presented with ketonuria, elevated plasma transaminase activity and severe metabolic acidosis during hypoglycaemic crises, which resembled Reye syndrome. Intravenous fructose tolerance tests provoked severe hypoglycaemia and metabolic acidosis. Fructose-1,6-diphosphatase activities in both peripheral leukocytes and cultured lymphocytes were below the limit of detection. Urinary organic acid analysis during crises revealed markedly increased excretion of lactate, ketone bodies, glycerol and glycerol-3-phosphate. We newly identified other glycolytic intermediates, glyceraldehyde, 3-phosphoglycerate and fructose-1,6-diphosphate, in the urine during hypoglycaemic attacks or after fructose tolerance tests. Identification of such compounds may be useful in the early diagnosis of this disease.

Glycerol-3-phosphate excretion in fructose-1,6-diphosphatase deficiency.

A patient aged 23 months with fructose-1,6-diphosphatase deficiency is reported. This infant demonstrated an increased urine excretion of glycerol-3-phosphate during episodes of hypoglycaemia. The excretion of this compound has not previously been described in this disease or in those disorders associated with a deficiency in one of the other three gluconeogenic enzymes associated with hypoglycaemia. Its presence in the urine from patients may be useful in diagnosis.