Metabolite profiling in complex biological matrices such as serum requires high-throughput technologies capable of accurate and reproducible quantitative analysis and detection of slight differences in metabolite concentrations. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is widely used for characterizing the metabolome. This chapter summarizes the necessary preparatory steps required to profile the metabolome using GC-MS. While this chapter focuses on evaluating polar metabolites in serum samples, the methods can be adapted to quantify nonpolar metabolites in other biological matrices.
Keywords: Biomarker; Cancer; Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; Metabolite profiling; Serum.