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UHPLC-QTOFMS-based metabolomic analysis of serum and urine in rats treated with musalais containing varying ethyl carbamate content

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Abstract

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of the ethyl carbamate (EC) content in musalais on the metabolism of rats. Electron beam irradiation was performed to decrease the content of EC in musalais, and Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to intragastric administration of musalais with varying EC content (high, medium, and low groups). Control rats were fed normally without any treatment. Serum and urine samples were analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Principal component analysis and orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were performed to detect changes in the metabolite profile in the serum and urine in order to identify the differential metabolites and metabolic pathways. The results demonstrated clear differences in the serum and urine metabolic patterns between control and treatment groups. Ions in treatment groups with variable importance in the projection of >1 (selected from the OPLS-DA loading plots) and Ps < 0.05 (Student t test) compared to control group were identified as candidate metabolites. Analysis of the metabolic pathways relevant to the identified differential metabolites revealed that high EC content in musalais (10 mg/kg) mainly affected rats through valine, leucine, and isoleucine biosynthesis and nicotinate and nicotinamide metabolism, which were associated with energy metabolism. In addition, this work suggests that EC can induce oxidative stress via inhibition of glycine content.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31360409, 31471667), Program for Yong and Middle-aged Leading Talents of China Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (2017CB009), and Selection and Cultivation Project of “Talents of Xinjiang production and Construction Corps”.

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  1. College of Life Science, Tarim University, Alaer, Xinjiang, 843300, China

    Weihua Wang, ZhanJiang Han, Dongqi Guo & Yanju Xiang

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Contributions

WHW and ZJH designed this study. WHW, DQG, and YJX analyzed the data. WHW wrote the manuscript. ZJH revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to ZhanJiang Han.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All animal experiments were conducted in Wuhan Myhalic Biotechnology Co., Ltd. and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Wuhan Myhalic Biotechnology Co., Ltd. based on the ethical Guidelines for Animal Care and Use of the Model Animal Research Institute (approval number: HLK-20181209-01).

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The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Wang, W., Han, Z., Guo, D. et al. UHPLC-QTOFMS-based metabolomic analysis of serum and urine in rats treated with musalais containing varying ethyl carbamate content. Anal Bioanal Chem 412, 7627–7637 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-020-02900-5

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