Dissecting the effects of paraquat-induced pulmonary injury in rats using UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS-based metabonomics

Xiehong Liu; Chi Li; Changmiao Hou; Yu Jiang; Fang Chen; Yimin Zhu; Lianhong Zou

doi:10.1093/toxres/tfad040

Dissecting the effects of paraquat-induced pulmonary injury in rats using UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS-based metabonomics

Toxicol Res (Camb). 2023 May 31;12(3):527-538. doi: 10.1093/toxres/tfad040. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Xiehong Liu^{1

2

3}, Chi Li^{1

2

3}, Changmiao Hou^{1

2

3

4}, Yu Jiang^{1

2

3}, Fang Chen^{1

2

3}, Yimin Zhu^{1

2

3}, Lianhong Zou^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Hunan Provincial People's Hospital/The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, 61 Jiefang West Road, Changsha, Hunan, PC 410005, China.
² Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Emergency and Critical Care Metabonomics,61 Jiefang West Road, Changsha, Hunan, PC 410005, China.
³ Hunan Provinicial Institute of Emergency Medicine, 61 Jiefang West Road, Changsha, Hunan, PC 410005, China.
⁴ School of Clinical Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, 113 Shaoshan Middle Road, Changsha, Hunan, PC 410000, China.

Abstract

Objective: Paraquat (PQ) is a toxic compound that selectively accumulates in the lungs, inducing severe pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. However, data on the metabolomic changes induced by the PQ remain scant. This study aimed to determine the metabolic changes in Sprague-Dawley rats subjected to PQ using UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS.

Methods: We established groups of PQ-induced pulmonary injury rats for 14 or 28 days.

Results: Our data showed that PQ decreased the survival of the rats and induced pulmonary inflammation at day 14 or pulmonary fibrosis at day 28. There was upregulation of IL-1β expression in the inflammation group as well as upregulation of fibronectin, collagen and α-SMA in the pulmonary fibrosis group. OPLS-DA revealed differential expression of 26 metabotites between the normal and the inflammation groups; 31 plasma metabotites were also differently expressed between the normal and the fibrosis groups. There was high expression of lysoPc160-, hydroxybutyrylcarnitine, stearic acid, and imidazolelactic acid in the pulmonary injury group compared to the normal group.

Conclusion: Metabolomics analysis confirmed that the PQ-induced lung injury was not only related to the aggravation of inflammation and apoptosis but also to mediated histidine, serine, glycerophospholipid, and lipid metabolism. This study gives insights into the mechanisms of PQ-induced lung injury and highlights the potential therapeutic targets.

Nonstructured abstract: The effect of PQ on lung injury in rats was detected by metabonomics, and the possible metabolic mechanism was investigated by KEGG analysis. OPLS-DA revealed the differential expression of 26 metabotites and 31 plasma metabotites between the normal and the pulmonary injury groups. Metabolomics analysis confirmed that the PQ-induced lung injury was not only related to the aggravation of inflammation and apoptosis but also to mediated histidine, serine, glycerophospholipid, and lipid metabolism. Oleoylethanolamine, stearic acid, and imidazolelactic acid are potential molecular markers in PQ-induced pulmonary injury.

Keywords: UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS; inflammation; metabolomics; paraquat; pulmonary fibrosis.