Metabonomics

Metabonomic studies are used for characterization of the physiological state of a cell, tissue, organ or organism by monitoring the concentrations of a set of metabolites - the ultimate goal is to list all the metabolites and to describe their concentrations under all possible states. Earlier work on metabonomics was mostly restricted to characterization of metabolites in body fluids, however, the advent of novel non-invasive techniques (such as in vivo MR spectroscopy) now allows us to carry out metabonomic studies on virtually all organs/tissues.

Chemists and biologists often use the term 'metabolomics' interchangeably with metabonomics. Some distinguish the provinces of the two terms:

The goals of Metabolomics are to catalog and quantify the myriad small molecules found in biological fluids under different conditions. Metabonomics is the study of how the metabolic profile of a complex biological system changes in response to stresses like disease, toxic exposure, or dietary change.