Metabolomics and medical practice

High resolution NMR spectroscopy, currently known as " metabolomics", is a technology enabling the rapid, noninvasive and low cost determination of low molecular weigh metabolites (e.g. aminoacids) in biological fluids such as plasma, urine, saliva, cerebrospinal fluid and others. According to Nicholson "Metabolomics is the quantitative measurement of the dynamic multiparametric metabolic response of living systems to pathophysiological stimuli or genetic modification". Over the past 10 years this technology made it possible to discover of a number of lesser-known organ-specific metabolites that has been demonstrated to be reliable indicators of both organ function and viability. Consequently metabolomics has been used, with interesting results, for the functional evaluation of many organs (kidney, liver, heart), drug toxicity and post-transplant monitoring. The international literature demonstrates a growing interest for this technology and its capabilities.