Analysis of the Enantioselective Effects of PCB95 in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Embryos through Targeted Metabolomics by UPLC-MS/MS

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 11; no. 8; p. e0160584
• Main Authors: Xu, Nana, Mu, Pengqian, Yin, Zhiqiang, Jia, Qi, Yang, Shuming, Qian, Yongzhong, Qiu, Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 08.08.2016; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Agriculture; Amino acids; Analysis; Animals; Betaine; Biological effects; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomarkers; Chlorinated solvents; Choline; Chromatography; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Computer and Information Sciences; Danio rerio; Disease; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Embryo, Nonmammalian - drug effects; Embryo, Nonmammalian - metabolism; Embryonic development; Embryos; Enantiomers; Endocrine system; Endocrine systems; Energy metabolism; Environmental impact; Exposure; High performance liquid chromatography; Immune system; Laboratories; Liquid chromatography; Liver; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Metabolic Networks and Pathways - drug effects; Metabolic pathways; Metabolism; Metabolites; Metabolomics; Metabolomics - methods; Multivariate Analysis; Organic acids; PCB; PCB compounds; Persistent organic pollutants; Physical Sciences; Pollutants; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - administration & dosage; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - chemistry; Polychlorinated Biphenyls - toxicity; Product quality; Reproducibility of Results; Research and Analysis Methods; Rodents; Stereoisomerism; Studies; Tandem Mass Spectrometry - methods; Toxicity; Toxicity Tests; Toxicology; Water Pollutants, Chemical - administration & dosage; Water Pollutants, Chemical - chemistry; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; Zebrafish; Zebrafish - embryology; Zebrafish - metabolism
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0160584

As persistent organic pollutants, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) accumulate in the bodies of animals and humans, resulting in toxic effects on the reproductive, immune, nervous, and endocrine systems. The biological and toxicological characteristics of enantiomers of chiral PCBs may differ, but these enantioselective effects of PCBs have not been fully characterized. In this study, we performed metabolomics analysis, using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) to investigate the enantioselective toxic effects of PCB95 in zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos after exposure to three dose levels of 0.1, 1, and 10 μg/L for 72 h. Multivariate analysis directly reflected the metabolic perturbations caused by PCB95. The effects of (-)-PCB95 and (+)-PCB95 were more prominent than those of the racemate in zebrafish embryos. A total of 26 endogenous metabolites were selected as potential marker metabolites with variable importance at projection values larger than 1 and significant differences (p<0.05). These metabolites included amino acids, organic acids, nucleosides, betaine, and choline. The changes in these biomarkers were dependent on the enantiomer-specific structures of PCB95. Fifteen metabolic pathways were significantly affected, and several nervous and immune system-related metabolites were significantly validated after exposure. These metabolic changes indicated that the toxic effects of PCB95 may be associated with the interaction of PCB95 with the nervous and immune systems, thus resulting in disruption of energy metabolism and liver function.