Urine metabolomic profiling in neonatal nephrology

Metabolomics, the latest "omics" technology aims to study the complete set of low molecular weight metabolites that may change according to the physiological or the pathological state of the organism. Clinical studies dealing with metabolomics in neonatal and pediatric nephrology are very few. In this paper we present the experimental studies in newborn animal models, together with the available data on human newborns. Finally the urine metabolomic profiling of 3 newborns who suffered from severe perinatal asphyxia and were treated with hypothermia. They are located in a different part of the multivariate space, the reason of the differences being the basal metabolic profile (resilience) of each neonate: 1 died and 2 survived (one of them developed an acute kidney injury). The main metabolites responsible for the different metabolic profile among the 3 newborns are presented. In the future each neonatologist and nephrologist should become skilled in the metabolomic field.