Issue 3, 2023

Volatile metabolites differentiate air–liquid interface cultures after infection with Staphylococcus aureus

Abstract

Early detection of lung infection is critical to clinical diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring. Measuring volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath has shown promise as a rapid and accurate method of evaluating disease metabolism and phenotype. However, further investigations of the role and function of VOCs in bacterial-host-stress response is required and this can only be realised through representative in vitro models. In this study we sampled VOCs from the headspace of A549 cells at an air–liquid interface (ALI). We hypothesised VOC sampling from ALI cultures could be used to profile potential biomarkers of S. aureus lung infection. VOCs were collected using thin film microextraction (TFME) and were analysed by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. After optimising ALI cultures, we observed seven VOCs changed between A549 and media control samples. After infecting cells with S. aureus, supervised principal component-discriminant function analysis revealed 22 VOCs were found to be significantly changed in infected cells compared to uninfected cells (p < 0.05), five of which were also found in parallel axenic S. aureus cultures. We have demonstrated VOCs that could be used to identify S. aureus in ALI cultures, supporting further investigation of VOC analysis as a highly sensitive and specific test for S. aureus lung infection.

Graphical abstract: Volatile metabolites differentiate air–liquid interface cultures after infection with Staphylococcus aureus

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 7 2022
Accepted
12 12 2022
First published
04 1 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Analyst, 2023,148, 618-627

Volatile metabolites differentiate air–liquid interface cultures after infection with Staphylococcus aureus

W. Ahmed, E. Bardin, M. D. Davis, I. Sermet-Gaudelus, S. Grassin Delyle and S. J. Fowler, Analyst, 2023, 148, 618 DOI: 10.1039/D2AN01205G

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