Quantitative metabolomics based on NMR

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy can be used to both identify and quantify chemicals from complex mixtures. Over the last several decades, significant technical and experimental advances have made quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) a valuable analytical tool for quantitative measurements of a wide variety of samples. This particular approach is now being exploited to characterize the metabolomes of many different biological samples and is called quantitative metabolomics or targeted metabolic profiling. In this review, some of the strengths, limitations of NMR-based quantitative metabolomics will be discussed as well as the practical considerations necessary for acquisition with an emphasis on their use for bioanalysis. Recent examples of the application of this particular approach to metabolomics studies will be also presented.