Part review, part perspective, this article examines the applications and potential of in-vivo Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) for understanding environmental toxicity. In-vivo NMR can be applied in high field NMR spectrometers using either magic angle spinning based approaches, or flow systems. Solution-state NMR in combination with a flow system provides a low stress approach to monitor dissolved metabolites, while magic angle spinning NMR allows the detection of all components (solutions, gels and solids), albeit with additional stress caused by the rapid sample spinning. With in-vivo NMR it is possible to use the same organisms for control and exposure studies (controls are the same organisms prior to exposure inside the NMR). As such individual variability can be reduced while continual data collection over time provides the temporal resolution required to discern complex interconnected response pathways. When multidimensional NMR is combined with isotopic labelling, a wide range of metabolites can be identified in-vivo providing a unique window into the living metabolome that is highly complementary to more traditional metabolomics studies employing extracts, tissues, or biofluids.
Keywords: NMR; environmental toxicology; in-vivo; metabolomics.