Metabolomic Characterizations of Liver Injury Caused by Acute Arsenic Toxicity in Zebrafish.

Arsenic is one of the most common metalloid contaminants in groundwater and it has both acute and chronic toxicity affecting multiple organs. Details of the mechanism of arsenic toxicity are still lacking and profile studies at metabolic level are very limited. Using gas chromatography coupled with...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Caixia Li, Ping Li, Yee Min Tan, Siew Hong Lam, Eric C Y Chan, Zhiyuan Gong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0151225&type=printable
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849723594288922624
author Caixia Li
Ping Li
Yee Min Tan
Siew Hong Lam
Eric C Y Chan
Zhiyuan Gong
author_facet Caixia Li
Ping Li
Yee Min Tan
Siew Hong Lam
Eric C Y Chan
Zhiyuan Gong
author_sort Caixia Li
collection DOAJ
description Arsenic is one of the most common metalloid contaminants in groundwater and it has both acute and chronic toxicity affecting multiple organs. Details of the mechanism of arsenic toxicity are still lacking and profile studies at metabolic level are very limited. Using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy (GC/MS), we first generated metabolomic profiles from the livers of arsenic-treated zebrafish and identified 34 significantly altered metabolite peaks as potential markers, including four prominent ones: cholic acid, glycylglycine, glycine and hypotaurine. Combined results from GC/MS, histological examination and pathway analyses suggested a series of alterations, including apoptosis, glycogenolysis, changes in amino acid metabolism and fatty acid composition, accumulation of bile acids and fats, and disturbance in glycolysis related energy metabolism. The alterations in glycolysis partially resemble Warburg effect commonly observed in many cancer cells. However, cellular damages were not reflected in two conventional liver function tests performed, Bilirubin assay and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) assay, probably because the short arsenate exposure was insufficient to induce detectable damage. This study demonstrated that metabolic changes could reflect mild liver impairments induced by arsenic exposure, which underscored their potential in reporting early liver injury.
format Article
id doaj-art-ede7dbef15a94f889c71bb6b121de382
institution DOAJ
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2016-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-ede7dbef15a94f889c71bb6b121de3822025-08-20T03:10:59ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032016-01-01113e015122510.1371/journal.pone.0151225Metabolomic Characterizations of Liver Injury Caused by Acute Arsenic Toxicity in Zebrafish.Caixia LiPing LiYee Min TanSiew Hong LamEric C Y ChanZhiyuan GongArsenic is one of the most common metalloid contaminants in groundwater and it has both acute and chronic toxicity affecting multiple organs. Details of the mechanism of arsenic toxicity are still lacking and profile studies at metabolic level are very limited. Using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy (GC/MS), we first generated metabolomic profiles from the livers of arsenic-treated zebrafish and identified 34 significantly altered metabolite peaks as potential markers, including four prominent ones: cholic acid, glycylglycine, glycine and hypotaurine. Combined results from GC/MS, histological examination and pathway analyses suggested a series of alterations, including apoptosis, glycogenolysis, changes in amino acid metabolism and fatty acid composition, accumulation of bile acids and fats, and disturbance in glycolysis related energy metabolism. The alterations in glycolysis partially resemble Warburg effect commonly observed in many cancer cells. However, cellular damages were not reflected in two conventional liver function tests performed, Bilirubin assay and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) assay, probably because the short arsenate exposure was insufficient to induce detectable damage. This study demonstrated that metabolic changes could reflect mild liver impairments induced by arsenic exposure, which underscored their potential in reporting early liver injury.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0151225&type=printable
spellingShingle Caixia Li
Ping Li
Yee Min Tan
Siew Hong Lam
Eric C Y Chan
Zhiyuan Gong
Metabolomic Characterizations of Liver Injury Caused by Acute Arsenic Toxicity in Zebrafish.
PLoS ONE
title Metabolomic Characterizations of Liver Injury Caused by Acute Arsenic Toxicity in Zebrafish.
title_full Metabolomic Characterizations of Liver Injury Caused by Acute Arsenic Toxicity in Zebrafish.
title_fullStr Metabolomic Characterizations of Liver Injury Caused by Acute Arsenic Toxicity in Zebrafish.
title_full_unstemmed Metabolomic Characterizations of Liver Injury Caused by Acute Arsenic Toxicity in Zebrafish.
title_short Metabolomic Characterizations of Liver Injury Caused by Acute Arsenic Toxicity in Zebrafish.
title_sort metabolomic characterizations of liver injury caused by acute arsenic toxicity in zebrafish
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0151225&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT caixiali metabolomiccharacterizationsofliverinjurycausedbyacutearsenictoxicityinzebrafish
AT pingli metabolomiccharacterizationsofliverinjurycausedbyacutearsenictoxicityinzebrafish
AT yeemintan metabolomiccharacterizationsofliverinjurycausedbyacutearsenictoxicityinzebrafish
AT siewhonglam metabolomiccharacterizationsofliverinjurycausedbyacutearsenictoxicityinzebrafish
AT ericcychan metabolomiccharacterizationsofliverinjurycausedbyacutearsenictoxicityinzebrafish
AT zhiyuangong metabolomiccharacterizationsofliverinjurycausedbyacutearsenictoxicityinzebrafish