Screening the life cycle of Schistosoma mansoni using high-resolution mass spectrometry Mônica Siqueira Ferreira a , Diogo Noin de Oliveira a , Rosimeire Nunes de Oliveira b , Silmara Marques Allegretti b , Rodrigo Ramos Catharino a, * a Innovare Biomarkers Laboratory, Medicine and Experimental Surgery Nucleus, University of Campinas, 13083-877 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil b Biology Institute, Animal Biology Department, University of Campinas, 13083-877 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T  BH and SE strains presented lipid profile differences in all stage ana- lyzed.  PCA clearly separated all groups of S. mansoni with accuracy >85%.  Chemical markers detection in urine can enable a rapid diagnose for schistosomiasis. A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 28 March 2014 Received in revised form 28 May 2014 Accepted 9 June 2014 Available online 12 June 2014 Keywords: Schistosoma mansoni HR-FTMS Lipid profile Life cycle A B S T R A C T Schistosomiasis is a common tropical disease caused by Schistosoma species Schistosomiasis' pathogenesis is known to vary according to the worms' strain. Moreover, high parasitical virulence is directly related to eggs release and granulomatous inflammation in the host's organs. This virulence might be influenced by different classes of molecules, such as lipids. Therefore, better understanding of the metabolic profile of these organisms is necessary, especially for an increased potential of unraveling strain virulence mechanisms and resistance to existing treatments. In this report, direct-infusion electrospray high-resolution mass spectrometry (ESI(+)-HRMS) along with the lipidomic platform were employed to rapidly characterize and differentiate two Brazilian S. mansoni strains (BH and SE) in three stages of their life cycle: eggs, miracidia and cercariae, with samples from experimental animals (Swiss/ SPF mice). Furthermore, urine samples of the infected and uninfected mice were analyzed to assess the possibility of direct diagnosis. All samples were differentiated using multivariate data analysis, PCA, which helped electing markers from distinct lipid classes; phospholipids, diacylglycerols and triacylglycerols, for example, clearly presented different intensities in some stages and strains, as well as in urine samples. This indicates that biochemical characterization of S. mansoni may help narrowing- down the investigation of new therapeutic targets according to strain composition and aggressiveness of disease. Interestingly, lipid profile of infected mice urine varies when compared to control samples, indicating that direct diagnosis of schistosomiasis from urine may be feasible. ã 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Abbreviations: ESI, electrospray; HR-FTMS, high-resolution Fourier transform mass spectrometry; TLC, thin-layer chromatography; GC–MS, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry; HPLC, high performance liquid chromatography; MALDI-MS, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry; MSI, mass spectrometry imaging; ESI-MS, electrospray mass spectrometry; PCA, principal component analysis; TG, triacylglycerol; DG, diacylglycerol; PKC, protein kinase C; PI, phosphatidylinositol; PS, phosphatidylserine; GSL, glycosphingolipids; GlcCer, glucosylceramides; Gal-Cer, galactosylceramides; DA, dodecanoic acid. * Corresponding author at: Medicine and Experimental Surgery Department, School of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Rua Cinco de Junho, 350 – Cidade Universitária, 13083-877 Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Tel.: +55 19 3521 9138. E-mail address: rrc@fcm.unicamp.br (R.R. Catharino). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2014.06.013 0003-2670/ ã 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Analytica Chimica Acta 845 (2014) 62–69 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Analytica Chimica Acta journal homepa ge: www.elsev ier.com/locate /aca