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Intra-individual variation of plasma trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), betaine and choline over 1 year

  • Tilman Kühn EMAIL logo , Sabine Rohrmann , Disorn Sookthai , Theron Johnson , Verena Katzke , Rudolf Kaaks , Arnold von Eckardstein and Daniel Müller
Published/Copyright: July 22, 2016
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Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM)
From the journal Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) Volume 55 Issue 2

Abstract

Background:

Circulating trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) has been implicated in the development of cardiovascular and chronic kidney diseases (CKD). However, while higher TMAO levels have been associated with increased risks of cardiovascular or renal events in first prospective studies, it remained unclear how much plasma TMAO concentrations vary over time.

Methods:

We measured fasting plasma levels of TMAO and two of its precursors, betaine and choline by LC-MS, in two samples of 100 participants of the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Heidelberg study (age range: 47–80 years, 50% female) that were collected 1 year apart, and assessed their intra-individual variation by Spearman’s correlation coefficients (ρ).

Results:

Correlations of metabolite concentrations over 1 year were at ρ=0.29 (p=0.003) for TMAO, ρ=0.81 (p<0.001) for betaine, and ρ=0.61 (p<0.001) for choline. Plasma levels of TMAO were not significantly associated with food intake, lifestyle factors, or routine biochemistry parameters such as C-reactive protein (CRP), low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, or creatinine.

Conclusions:

In contrast to fasting plasma concentrations of betaine and choline, concentrations of TMAO were more strongly affected by intra-individual variation over 1 year in adults from the general population. The modest correlation of TMAO levels over time should be considered when interpreting associations between TMAO levels and disease endpoints.

Keywords: betaine; choline; intra-individual variation; TMAO

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: The EPIC-Heidelberg study was sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Grant No. 01ER0809) and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). The present study was further supported by the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres (Portfolio Theme: Metabolic Dysfunction).

  3. Employment or leadership: None declared.

  4. Honorarium: None declared.

  5. Competing interests: The funding organization(s) played no role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the report for publication.

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Supplemental Material:

The online version of this article (DOI: 10.1515/cclm-2016-0374) offers supplementary material, available to authorized users.

Received: 2016-4-29
Accepted: 2016-6-23
Published Online: 2016-7-22
Published in Print: 2017-2-1

©2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/cclm-2016-0374
Keywords for this article
betaine; choline; intra-individual variation; TMAO

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Commutable samples with assigned target concentrations may help us harmonise general chemistry results
  4. Reviews
  5. Performance of point-of-care HbA1c test devices: implications for use in clinical practice – a systematic review and meta-analysis
  6. Cardiac troponins and mortality in type 1 and 2 myocardial infarction
  7. Opinion Paper
  8. Criteria for assigning laboratory measurands to models for analytical performance specifications defined in the 1st EFLM Strategic Conference
  9. Genetics and Molecular Diagnostics
  10. External quality assessment for human papillomavirus 16/18 DNA detection and genotyping in Shanghai, China
  11. General Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine
  12. Analytical performance of 17 general chemistry analytes across countries and across manufacturers in the INPUtS project of EQA organizers in Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom and Spain
  13. Commutability of proficiency testing material containing tobramycin: a study within the framework of the Dutch Calibration 2.000 project
  14. Optimization and validation of moving average quality control procedures using bias detection curves and moving average validation charts
  15. Extending laboratory automation to the wards: effect of an innovative pneumatic tube system on diagnostic samples and transport time
  16. Smart management of sample dilution using an artificial neural network to achieve streamlined processes and saving resources: the automated nephelometric testing of serum free light chain as case study
  17. An integrated proteomic and peptidomic assessment of the normal human urinome
  18. An alternative inhibition method for determining cross-reactive allergens
  19. Validation of a new assay for α-synuclein detection in cerebrospinal fluid
  20. Reference Values and Biological Variations
  21. Intra-individual variation of plasma trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), betaine and choline over 1 year
  22. Cancer Diagnostics
  23. Predictive performance of TPA testing for recurrent disease during follow-up after curative intent surgery for colorectal carcinoma
  24. Cardiovascular Diseases
  25. Mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) and mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) in severe aortic valve stenosis: association with outcome after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)
  26. Association between apolipoprotein E polymorphisms and premature coronary artery disease: a meta-analysis
  27. Urinary orosomucoid: a novel, early biomarker of sepsis with promising diagnostic performance
  28. Letters to the Editor
  29. CT or MRI
  30. Reply to: CT or MRI in the diagnosis of right lower quadrant abdominal pain?
  31. Quantification of daratumumab in the serum protein electrophoresis
  32. Response to: Interference of daratumumab on the serum protein electrophoresis
  33. Glycated albumin: correlation to HbA1c and preliminary reference interval evaluation
  34. Using “big data” to describe the effect of seasonal variation in thyroid-stimulating hormone
  35. IgE multiple myeloma: a new case report
  36. Therapeutic decision-making process in the intensive care unit: role of biological point-of-care testing
  37. How can we evaluate differences between serial measurements on the same sample? A new approach based on within-subject biological variation
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