Chromatographic separation was carried out using an Acclaim RSLC 120 C18 column (2.2 µm, 120 Å, 2.1 × 100 mm) (Dionex, Thermo Fischer Scientific, Sunnyvale, CA, USA). The mobile phase consisted of 90% methanol with 5 mM ammonium acetate and 50% methanol with 5 mM ammonium acetate. Injection volume was 1.0 µL. Mass calibration was performed using 1 mM sodium formate/acetate in 50% isopropanol with 0.2% formic acid, HCOO(NaCOOH)1 (m/z 112.9856), Ac(NaAc)1 (m/z 141.0169), and Ac(NaF)1 (m/z 127.0013).
Data analysis and calculations were performed using the following software: Data Analysis 4.1 (SmartFormula, SmartFormula 3D, Isotope Pattern, and Fragmentation Explorer), Profile Analysis 2.1 (PCA and Bucket Statistic Plot), Metabolite Detect 2.0 from Bruker Daltonik, Bremen, Germany, MetFrag (version 2010) [32 ], Metlin [33 ], and MassBank [34 ].