Key Laboratory of Coastal Zone Environment Processes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, People's Republic of China.
Ecotoxicology. 2011 Aug;20(6):1422-31. doi: 10.1007/s10646-011-0699-9. Epub 2011 May 15.
Cadmium is a non-essential element to living organisms and has become the severe contaminant in both seawater and sediment in the intertidal zones of the Bohai Sea. The halophyte, Suaeda salsa is the pioneer plant in the intertidal zones of Bohai Sea and has been widely applied in environmental sciences. In this study, the dose- and time-dependent effects induced by environmentally relevant concentrations (2, 10 and 50 μg l(-1)) of cadmium were characterized in S. salsa using NMR-based metabolomics. The levels of amino acids (valine, leucine, glutamate, tyrosine, etc.), carbohydrates (glucose, sucrose and fructose), intermediates of tricarboxylic acid cycle (succinate, citrate, etc.) and osmolyte (betaine) were altered in the S. salsa samples after cadmium exposures. These metabolic biomarkers indicated the elevated protein degradation and disturbances in the osmotic regulation and energy metabolism caused by cadmium in S. salsa. Overall, our results demonstrated the applicability of NMR-based metabolomics for the detection of metabolic biomarkers that could be used for the interpretation of toxicological effects induced by contaminants in the pioneer plant S. salsa in the intertidal zones. In addition, the metabolic biomarkers could be potentially useful for the bio-monitoring of contaminants in the intertidal zones.
镉是一种对生物体非必需的元素，已成为渤海潮间带海水和沉积物中的严重污染物。盐地碱蓬是渤海潮间带的先锋植物，已广泛应用于环境科学领域。在这项研究中，采用基于核磁共振的代谢组学方法，研究了环境相关浓度（2、10 和 50μg l(-1))的镉对盐地碱蓬的剂量和时间依赖性影响。镉暴露后，盐地碱蓬样品中的氨基酸（缬氨酸、亮氨酸、谷氨酸、酪氨酸等）、碳水化合物（葡萄糖、蔗糖和果糖）、三羧酸循环中间产物（琥珀酸、柠檬酸等）和渗透调节剂（甜菜碱）水平发生了变化。这些代谢生物标志物表明，镉在盐地碱蓬中引起了蛋白质降解的增加以及渗透调节和能量代谢的紊乱。总之，我们的研究结果表明，基于核磁共振的代谢组学可用于检测代谢生物标志物，可用于解释潮间带先锋植物盐地碱蓬中污染物引起的毒理学效应。此外，这些代谢生物标志物可能对潮间带污染物的生物监测具有潜在的应用价值。
