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Nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomic investigation reveals metabolic perturbations in PM2.5-treated A549 cells

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Abstract

Exposure to PM2.5 is associated with an increased risk of lung diseases, and oxidative damage is the main reason for PM2.5-mediated lung injuries. However, little is known about the early molecular events in PM2.5-induced lung toxicity. In the present study, the metabolites in PM2.5-treated A549 cells were examined via a robust and nondestructive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolic approach to clarify the molecular mechanism of PM2.5-induced toxicity. NMR analysis revealed that 12 metabolites were significantly altered in PM2.5-treated A549 cells, including up-regulation of alanine, valine, lactate, ω-6 fatty acids, and citrate and decreased levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid, acetate, leucine, isoleucine, D-glucose, lysine, and dimethylglycine. Pathway analysis demonstrated that seven metabolic pathways which included alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, arginine and proline metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis, and tricarboxylic acid cycle were mostly influenced. Our results indicate that NMR technique turns out to be a simple and reliable method for exploring the toxicity mechanism of air pollutant.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate Dr. Li Xu for her critical comments on the metabolite pathway analysis.

Funding

Funds were from the Shanghai Science and Technology Committee (17030501400) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51501109).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Center, Shanghai University of Engineering and Science, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Dacheng Huang

  2. Instrumental Analysis Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Yajuan Zou & Bona Dai

  3. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Anees Abbas

Authors
  1. Dacheng Huang
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  2. Yajuan Zou
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  3. Anees Abbas
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  4. Bona Dai
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bona Dai.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Huang, D., Zou, Y., Abbas, A. et al. Nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomic investigation reveals metabolic perturbations in PM2.5-treated A549 cells. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 31656–31665 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3111-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-3111-y

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