Table 1.

Comparison of targeted and untargeted metabolomics platforms

Feature	Targeted	Untargeted
Number of metabolites detected	Specific subset (usually <25 per run)	Typically ∼500 reproducible known compounds and ∼2,500 unknown compounds in human plasma
Identification	Individual isotope-labeled standards or authentic compounds	Library and software based
Quantitative	Yes	No
Data analysis time	Minimal (a typical experiment with two groups of n = 10/group and 20 analytes takes 2–3 days)	Significant (a typical experiment with two groups of n = 10/group takes 4–6 weeks)
Orthogonal technique required for confirmation	No	Yes