Metabolite profiles of repeatedly sampled urine from male fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) contain unique lipid signatures following exposure to anti-androgens

Fish metabolome from sub-urban lakes of the Paris area (France) and potential influence of noxious metabolites produced by cyanobacteria

The recent democratization of high-throughput molecular phenotyping allows the rapid expansion of promising untargeted multi-dimensional approaches (e.g. epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and/or metabolomics). Indeed, these emerging omics tools, processed for ecologically relevant species, may present innovative perspectives for environmental assessments, that could provide early warning of eco(toxico)logical impairments. In a previous pilot study (Sotton et al., Chemosphere 2019), we explore by ¹H NMR the bio-indicative potential of metabolomics analyses on the liver of 2 sentinel fish species (Perca fluviatilis and Lepomis gibbosus) collected in 8 water bodies of the peri-urban Paris' area (France). In the present study, we further investigate on the same samples the high potential of high-throughput UHPLC-HRMS/MS analyses. We show that the LC-MS metabolome investigation allows a clear separation of individuals according to the species, but also according to their respective sampling lakes. Interestingly, similar variations of Perca and Lepomis metabolomes occur locally indicating that site-specific environmental constraints drive the metabolome variations which seem to be influenced by the production of noxious molecules by cyanobacterial blooms in certain lakes. Thus, the development of such reliable environmental metabolomics approaches appears to constitute an innovative bio-indicative tool for the assessment of ecological stress, such as toxigenic cyanobacterial blooms, and aim at being further follow up.

Metabolomics Responses of Pearl Oysters (Pinctada fucata martensii) Fed a Formulated Diet Indoors and Cultured With Natural Diet Outdoors

Natural disasters and environmental pollution are the main problems in traditional offshore cultivation. While culturing pearl oysters through industrial farming can avoid these problems, food availability in this case is limited. This study compares the metabolomics responses of pearl oysters, Pinctada fucata martensii, fed a formulated diet indoors with those of oysters cultured with natural diet outdoors by using a gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF/MS)-based metabolomics approach. The animals were divided into two groups as follows: the experimental group (EG) was fed a formulated diet indoors and the control group (CG) was cultured with natural diet outdoors. After 45 days of feeding, the survival rate of EG was significantly higher than that of CG. The absolute growth rate (AGR) of the total weight of EG did not significantly differ from that of CG, but the AGRs of the shell length, shell height, and shell width of CG were significantly higher than those of EG. EG showed significantly higher amylase activities than CG, and the hexokinase and glucose-6-phosphate isomerase concentrations of the former were significantly lower than those of the latter. Metabolomics revealed 125 metabolites via mass spectrum matching with a spectral similarity value > 700 in the hepatopancreas, and 48 metabolites were considered to be significantly different between groups (VIP > 1 and P < 0.05). Pathway analysis results indicated that these significantly different metabolites were involved in 34 pathways. Further integrated key metabolic pathway analysis showed that, compared with CG, EG had lower capabilities for cysteine and methionine metabolism, sulfur metabolism, and starch and sucrose metabolism. This study demonstrated that the formulated diet could be an excellent substitute for natural diet; however, its nutrients were insufficient. Effective strategies should be developed to enhance the utilization of formulated diets.

A systematic review of metabolomics biomarkers for Bisphenol A exposure

INTRODUCTION

Bisphenol A (BPA), 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane, a common industrial chemical which has extremely huge production worldwide, is ubiquitous in the environment. Human have high risk of exposing to BPA and the health problems caused by BPA exposure have aroused public concern. However, the biomarkers for BPA exposure are lacking. As a rapidly developing subject, metabolomics has accumulated a large amount of valuable data in various fields. The secondary application of published metabolomics data could be a very promising field for generating novel biomarkers whilst further understanding of toxicity mechanisms.

OBJECTIVES

To summarize the published literature on the use of metabolomics as a tool to study BPA exposure and provide a systematic perspectives of current research on biomarkers screening of BPA exposure.

METHODS

We conducted a systematic search of MEDLINE (PubMed) up to the end of June 25, 2017 with the key term combinations of 'metabolomics', 'metabonomics', 'mass spectrometry', 'nuclear magnetic spectroscopy', 'metabolic profiling' and 'amino acid profile' combined with 'BPA exposure'. Additional articles were identified through searching the reference lists from included studies.

RESULTS

This systematic review included 15 articles. Intermediates of glycolysis, Krebs cycle, β oxidation of long chain fatty acids, pentose phosphate pathway, nucleoside metabolism, branched chain amino acid metabolism, aromatic amino acids metabolism, sulfur-containing amino acids metabolism were significantly changed after BPA exposure, suggesting BPA had a highly complex toxic effects on organism which was consistent with existing studies. The biomarkers most consistently associated with BPA exposure were lactate and choline.

CONCLUSION

Existing metabolomics studies of BPA exposure present heterogeneous findings regarding metabolite profile characteristics. We need more evidence from target metabolomics and epidemiological studies to further examine the reliability of these biomarkers which link to low, environmentally relevant, exposure of BPA in human body.

Spotlight on environmental omics and toxicology: a long way in a short time

The applications for high throughput omics technologies in environmental science have increased dramatically in recent years. Transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics have been used to study how chemicals in our environment affect both aquatic and terrestrial organisms, and the characterization of molecular initiating events is a significant goal in toxicology to better predict adverse responses to toxicants. This special journal edition demonstrates the scope of the science that leverages omics-based methods in both laboratory and wild populations within the context of environmental toxicology, ranging from fish to mammals. It is important to recognize that the environment comprises one axis of the One Health concept - the idea that human health is unequivocally intertwined to our environment and to the organisms that inhabit that environment. We have much to learn from a comparative approach, and studies that integrate the transcriptome, proteome, and the metabolome are expected to offer the most detailed mechanism-based adverse outcome pathways that are applicable for use in both environmental monitoring and risk assessment.