Metabolic footprint of sepsis and septic shock: A narrative review

Table 1 Platforms used in metabolomics studies of sepsis and septic shock

Analytical platform	Metabolite coverage	Major advantages	Key limitations	Relevance in sepsis research
¹H nuclear magnetic resonance	Organic acids, amino acids, sugars, selected lipids	High reproducibility; minimal sample preparation; quantitative; non-destructive	Lower sensitivity; limited detection of low- prevalence metabolites	Metabolic pattern recognition, disease stratification, longitudinal monitoring
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry	Volatile and derivatized metabolites, organic acids, short-chain fatty acids	Excellent chromatographic resolution; robust compound identification	Derivatization required; limited to volatile/semi-volatile compounds	Assessment of microbial-derived metabolites and energy metabolism
Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry	Lipids, acylcarnitines, amino acids, bile acids, microbial metabolites	High sensitivity; broad metabolite coverage; targeted and untargeted analysis	Ion suppression; batch effects; requires rigorous standardization	Biomarker discovery, prognostic modeling, metabolic phenotyping