First Name:
Maria
Last Name:
Gulas
Major Department:
Exercise Science
Thesis Director:
Scott Collier
Date of Thesis:
May 2013
Metabolomics is a method of elucidating the metabolic signature of biofluids. This process is useful in identifying and quantifying metabolites that shift in response to exercise, diseases, or drugs. With the growing number of overweight and obese adolescents of great concern, this study observed the effects of a play-based physical activity program over summer break on the metabolome of overweight adolescents. Exercise has been shown to decrease risk factors and aid in weight management, however little is known regarding the mechanisms influenced by the metabolic shift or the time frame necessary to induce these shifts. The urinary metabolome of twenty-two overweight adolescents was investigated pre- and post-exercise using gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC/TOFMS) and analyzed with partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) to compare those enrolled in a four week program, eight week program, and controls. Significant differences were observed between the pre- and post-exercise eight week samples and the post-exercise eight week samples and controls. There were twelve identified metabolites of significance for the pre- and post-exercise eight week samples and twenty-two identified between the controls and the eight week post-exercise samples. Our results indicated that eight weeks of play-based physical activity can positively affect the metabolome of adolescents, which may decrease the likelihood of future obesity and the risk of its associated conditions. This data, along with other literature in the field of metabolomics, may help to associate metabolites that shift with exercise to those identified as biomarkers for obesity or disease, leading to a connection between the decreased risk of disease and its mechanisms within the metabolic pathway.