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Abstract
One of the objectives of metabonomics is to identify subtle changes in metabolite
profiles between biological systems of different physiological or pathological states.
Gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is a widely used analytical tool for
metabolic profiling in various biofluids, such as urine and blood due to its high
sensitivity, peak resolution and reproducibility. The availability of the GC/MS electron
impact (EI) spectral library further facilitates the identification of diagnostic
biomarkers and aids the subsequent mechanistic elucidation of the biological or pathological
variations. With the advent of new comprehensive two dimensional GC (GC x GC) coupled
to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS), it is possible to detect more than 1200
compounds in a single analytical run. In this review, we discuss the applications
of GC/MS in the metabolic profiling of urine and blood, and discuss its advances in
methodologies and technologies.