Patent ID: 8663602

Claim:
A method for high-throughput screening (HTS) of combinations or mixtures of two or more compounds for actions on molecular flux rates in one or more metabolic pathways, said method comprising: a) administering said two or more compounds to a living system; b) administering an isotope-labeled substrate to said living system for a period of time sufficient for said isotope-labeled substrate to enter into and pass through a metabolic pathway of interest and thereby enter into and label a targeted molecule or molecules of interest within said one or more metabolic pathways in said living system, wherein the isotope-labeled substrate is stable isotope-labeled water and the targeted molecule or molecules of interest is selected from the group consisting of lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, peptides, amino acids, and nucleic acids; c) obtaining one or more samples from said living system, wherein said one or more samples comprise one or more isotope-labeled targeted molecules of interest; d) measuring the isotopic content or the isotopic pattern of the isotope label of the targeted molecule or molecules of interest, or the rate of change of the isotopic content or the isotopic pattern of the isotope label of the targeted molecule or molecules of interest in the sample; e) calculating molecular flux rates of the targeted molecule or molecules of interest within said one or more metabolic pathways of interest; f) measuring the molecular flux rates in said one or more metabolic pathways of interest according to steps b) through e) in a living system not administered said two or more compounds; and g) comparing said molecular flux rates in said one or more metabolic pathways of interest in said living system administered said two or more compounds to said molecular flux rates in said one or more metabolic pathways in said living system not administered said two or more compounds to screen said compounds for one or more actions on said molecular flux rates.