Exploration of the Relationship Between Bladder Function and Serum Metabolites in Rats with Spinal Cord Injury
Abstract
Background Spinal cord injury (SCI) often leads to neurogenic bladder dysfunction, which severely impacts patients’ quality of life. Metabolic study is closely linked to the pathological progression of SCI and organ dysfunction, but the serum metabolic signatures associated with bladder function impairment after SCI remain unclear. This study aimed to analyze untargeted serum metabolites in SCI rats, explore dynamic metabolic changes at different post-injury time points, and identify potential metabolite biomarkers correlated with bladder muscle function. Methods 72 Serum samples were collected from SCI rats at different time points post-injury and from sham-operated control rats. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was used for untargeted metabolomic profiling. Unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to evaluate the overall sample distribution and analytical stability. Bladder muscle function was assessed using in vitro bladder muscle strip contraction experiments. Results 8 differentially expressed metabolites in SCI rats across different time points compared with controls: asaraldehyde, 4-aminohippuric acid,4-(octyloxy)benzoic acid,syringic acid,23-norcholic acid,xanthurenic acid, 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid (3-HANA) and 4-acetyl-4-(ethoxycarbonyl)heptanedioic acid. Bladder muscle strip experiments revealed impaired contractile function in SCI rats. Correlation analysis further demonstrated that the decrease in 3-HANA and the increase in syringic acid were probably associated with changes in bladder muscle activity. Conclusions This study identified a panel of serum metabolites with dynamic changes after SCI, among which 3-HANA and syringic acid are probably potential biomarkers linked to bladder muscle dysfunction. These metabolites may not only serve as diagnostic indicators for SCI-related bladder impairment but also provide novel targets for therapeutic intervention.
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