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Effects of hyperbaric oxygen on uric acid and arachidonic acid: a metabolomic study in rats and humans

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Abstract

Hyperoxia is routinely used to prevent or treat hypoxemia and acute respiratory failure, and sustain aerobic life in military and commercial operations. However, breathing oxygen acutely at high pressures and for long durations is toxic. The present study aimed to investigate effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) exposure on plasma metabolite profiles. We applied a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry based metabolomic approach to analyze metabolites from plasma of both rats and humans under HBO conditions to explore the possible effects of HBO on the body. Uric acid (UA) and arachidonic acid concentrations were changed significantly in both rat and human plasma, and some precursor metabolites of UA in the UA pathway were also changed. For acute and chronic HBO exposures on plasma UA after exogenous UA injection, the results indicated exogenous administration of UA significantly increased plasma UA and ascorbic acid levels. However, these returned to normal levels 48 h after HBO exposure. These findings suggest HBO exposure can combat the harmful effects of increased UA from exposure to elevated partial pressure of oxygen. Furthermore, exogenous administration of UA not only does not disturb its metabolism, but also increases its anti-oxidative capacity (increase ascorbic acid). These findings suggest that the use of antioxidants might be necessary under HBO exposure, especially under extreme HBO exposure.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analyses of variance

AA:

Arachidonic acid

ATA:

Atmosphere absolute

CNS:

Central nervous system

EPA:

Eicosapentaenoic acid

ESI:

Electrospray ionization

FA:

Fatty acid

HBO:

Hyperbaric oxygen

LC-MS:

Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

NADPH:

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate

OPLS:

Orthogonal partial least squares

PC:

Principle component

PLS-DA:

Partial least squares-discriminate analysis

Q-TOF-MS:

Quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

RT:

Retention time

TIC:

Total ion chromatography

UPLC-MS:

Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

UA:

Uric acid

XDH:

Xanthine dehydrogenase

XOR:

Xanthine oxidoreductase

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Military Eleventh Five-Year Plan Medicine Research Foundation (No. 08G066).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicinal Chemistry of Nature Product, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, 200433, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Xinru Liu & Weidong Zhang

  2. Department of Diving Medicine, Faculty of Naval Medicine, Second Military Medical University, 200433, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Wenwu Liu, Xuejun Sun, Kan Liu & Weigang Xu

  3. School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 200030, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China

    Weidong Zhang

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  1. Xinru Liu
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  2. Wenwu Liu
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  4. Kan Liu
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  5. Weigang Xu
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Correspondence to Weigang Xu or Weidong Zhang.

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Xinru Liu and Wenwu Liu contributed equally to the work.

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Liu, X., Liu, W., Sun, X. et al. Effects of hyperbaric oxygen on uric acid and arachidonic acid: a metabolomic study in rats and humans. Metabolomics 6, 375–385 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-010-0210-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-010-0210-2

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