Gas chromatographic applications in metabolomics

This chapter provides an overview of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based metabonomics, with special emphasis on the metabolite extraction, sample derivatization, chromatographic conditions, data acquisition, analytical workflow, data preprocessing, chemometric data analysis, model validation, biomarker identification, and pathway mapping. Additionally, applications of GC-MS-based metabonomics on solid (e.g., tissues) and liquid (e.g., urine) biological samples, such as in cancer biology, toxicology, forensics, nutritional studies, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and metabolic syndromes, are discussed. Lastly, recent advances in GC-MS technologies such as solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and their impact on biomedical research are also presented.