Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) reveals urine metabolites associated to light and heavy infections by Schistosoma mansoni in mice

High-throughput profiling of metabolites has been used to identify metabolic changes in murine models as a response to the infection by the parasitic trematode Schistosoma. These investigations have contributed to our understanding on the pathogenesis of this tropical neglected disease, with a potential of helping diagnosis. Here, our study aimed to investigate the application of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) on the profiling of urine metabolites from mice carrying infections by Schistosoma mansoni. Two larval infection doses created distinctive infection intensities in mice, whereby the heavily infected animals were found to release 25 times more eggs in faeces than lightly infected animals. Over 200 urine metabolites were identified from these animals by GC/MS, following two complementary derivatisation methods. A list of 14 individual metabolites with altered relative abundances between groups were identified. Most of the altered metabolites showed a trend of increased abundances in response to infection intensity, indicating host-specific metabolic alterations as a result of the disease. Hippurate, a metabolite which concentration is intimately modulated by the gut microbiota, was found to be highly correlated to infection intensity. Our study showed that urine metabolic profiling by GC/MS can distinguish non-infected animals from those carrying light and heavy infections by S. mansoni, revealing metabolites associated to the infection and providing insights on the pathogenesis of schistosomiasis.