METABOLOMIC ANALYSIS OF NORMAL WEIGHT, HEALTHY AND UNHEALTHY OBESITY: AMINO ACID CHANGE ACROSS THE SPECTRUM OF METABOLIC WELLBEING IN WOMEN.

Context: Obesity is a complex and heterogeneous disorder with multiple phenotypes described. Although metabolomic biomarkers of obesity have been extensively studied, biomarkers of obesity phenotypes and differences between these phenotypes and normal-weight (NW) persons have been less investigated. Objective: The objective of this cross-sectional analysis was to investigate serum amino acids (AA) as markers of metabolic alterations in obesity phenotypes and NW. Design: Cross-sectional. Subjects and
Methods: By targeted metabolomics we analyzed serum samples of 70 women using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Participants were divided into 3 groups: NW, metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) and metabolically unhealthy obesity (MUHO).
Results: Five AAs were significantly different between study groups: cysteine, methionine, asparagine, glutamine, and lysine (p-value <0.05 and variable importance in the projection >1). Cysteine increased linearly with metabolic unwellness from NW to MUHO. Lysine and glutamine were significantly higher, and asparagine was significantly lower in NW and MHO than in MUHO. Conclusions: By trend and group analysis we identified specific changes in serum AAs along with the progression of metabolically unwellness. ©2021 Acta Endocrinologica (Buc).