Abstract
Menopause is an endocrinological transition that greatly affects health and disease susceptibility in middle-aged and elderly women. To gain new insights into the metabolic process of menopause, plasma metabolic profiles in 115 pre- and post-menopausal women were systematically analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry in conjunction with univariate and multivariate statistical analysis. Metabolic signatures revealed considerable differences between pre- and post-menopausal women, and clear separations were observed between the groups in partial least-squares discriminant analysis score plots. In total, 28 metabolites were identified as potential metabolite markers for menopause, including up-regulated acylcarnitines, fatty acids, lysophosphatidylcholines, lysophosphatidylethanolamines, and down-regulated pregnanediol-3-glucuronide, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid and dihydrolipoic acid. These differences highlight that significant alterations occur in fatty acid β-oxidation, phospholipid metabolism, hormone metabolism and amino acid metabolism in post-menopausal women. In conclusion, our plasma metabolomics study provides novel understanding of the metabolic profiles related to menopause, and will be useful for investigating menopause-related diseases and assessing metabolomic confounding factors.