# Metabolic Pattern of Brain Death—NMR-Based Metabolomics of Cerebrospinal Fluid

## TL;DR

This study uses NMR spectroscopy to analyze cerebrospinal fluid and identify metabolic differences in brain-dead patients compared to controls.

## Contribution

The study presents a novel NMR-based metabolomics approach to distinguish brain death through CSF metabolic profiles.

## Key findings

- CSF metabolic profiles of brain-dead patients differ significantly from controls.
- Multiple compounds like amino acids, lactate, and choline show significant differences.
- Lipid analysis reveals significant variations in cholesterol and estriol levels.

## Abstract

The aim of this study was to gain insight into the biochemical status of cerebrospinal fluid in the presence of brain death in life-supported patients. The biochemical status was determined via in vitro NMR spectroscopy of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) obtained by lumbar puncture from 22 patients with confirmed brain death and compared with that of 34 control patients (without neurological diseases). Forty-one NMR signals from raw CSF samples and 20 signals from lipid extracts were analyzed using univariate and multivariate statistical methods. ANOVA revealed significant differences in all analyzed signals. No single biochemical marker was found to predict brain death. The CSF metabolic profiles of patients who died differed significantly from those of patients in the control group. There were many statistically significantly different compounds, including amino acids, ketone bodies, lactate, pyruvate, citrate, guanidinoacetate, choline, and glycerophosphocholine. Analysis of lipids revealed significant differences in cholesterol, estriol, and phosphoethanolamine. Discriminant analysis allows the analysis of metabolic profiles instead of single biomarkers of cerebrospinal fluid compounds. The results of our analysis allowed us to split the groups—the control group, which consisted of patients with a normal biochemical CSF composition, and the brain death group—with confirmed brain death.