Serum Metabolomics and Ionomics Analysis of Hoof-Deformed Cows Based on LC-MS/MS and ICP-OES/MS

Abstract

In order to explore the metabolic and ionic changes of hoof-deformed cows, the serum samples of 10 healthy cows (group C) and 10 hoof-deformed cows (group T) were analyzed by LC-MS/MS and ICP-OES/MS. The pathway enrichment of differential metabolites was analyzed by screening and identifying differential metabolites and ions and using a bioinformatics method. The integration of metabolomics and ionics was analyzed with ggplot2 software in R language, and verified by MRM target metabolomics. The results showed that 127 metabolites were screened by metabolomics, of which 81 were up-regulated (p < 0.05) and 46 were down-regulated (p < 0.05). The results of ICP-OES/MS showed that 13 kinds of ions such as K, Li, and Pb in serum of dairy cows were up-regulated, while 18 kinds of ions such as Al, Cu and Sb were down-regulated. The integrated analysis of metabolomics and ionics found that potassium ions were positively correlated with L-tyrosine, L-proline, thiamine and L-valine. Sodium ions were positively correlated with L-valine and negatively correlated with α-D-glucose. The results of high-throughput target metabolomics showed that the contents of L-proline, L-phenylalanine and L-tryptophan in serum of dairy cows increased significantly, which was consistent with the results of non-target metabolomics. In a word, the metabolism and ion changes in dairy cows with hoof deformation were revealed by metabolomics and ionics.