Animals such as humans, mice, rats, and livestock maintain their life activities by consuming the three major nutrients: carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, as well as vitamins, minerals (electrolytes and trace elements). Therefore, if animals continue to be in a state of low nutrition, they may suffer from a lack of these nutrients resulting in the collapse of muscle protein, loss or deficiency of visceral protein, lowered immunity, and decreased wound healing ability, thus making it impossible to maintain their health. To assess the nutritional and metabolic status, clinical blood tests including biochemical, endocrine, and immune-serological tests are routinely performed.    

In recent years, metabolomics, the analysis of metabolites including low-molecular-weight compounds such as amino acids and organic acids in living organisms, has become a useful technique in various research fields. However, its application in animal science seems not enough. The increasing number of protocols and application examples for animal science will promote more motivation to use metabolomics effectively in the study field. This Methods Collection aims to integrate traditional methods with innovative techniques and tools to study nutrition and metabolism at the serum level and to improve the understanding of nutrition and metabolism in animal science.