State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
School of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430072, China.
J Environ Sci (China). 2023 May;127:530-540. doi: 10.1016/j.jes.2022.06.019. Epub 2022 Jun 21.
To protect the wellbeing of research animals, certain non-invasive measures are in increasing need to facilitate an early diagnosis of health and toxicity. In this study, feces specimen was collected from adult zebrafish to profile the metabolome fingerprint. Variability in fecal metabolite composition was also distinguished as a result of aging, perfluorobutanesulfonate (PFBS) toxicant, and fecal transplantation. The results showed that zebrafish feces was very rich in a diversity of metabolites that belonged to several major classes, including lipid, amino acid, carbohydrate, vitamin, steroid hormone, and neurotransmitter. Fecal metabolites had functional implications to multiple physiological activities, which were characterized by the enrichment of digestion, absorption, endocrine, and neurotransmission processes. The high richness and functional involvement of fecal metabolites pinpointed feces as an abundant source of diagnostic markers. By comparison between young and aged zebrafish, fundamental modifications of fecal metabolomes were caused by aging progression, centering on the neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathway. Exposure of aged zebrafish to PFBS pollutant also significantly disrupted the metabolomic structure in feces. Of special concern were the changes in fecal hormone intermediates after PFBS exposure, which was concordant with the in vivo endocrine disrupting effects of PFBS. Furthermore, it was intriguing that transplantation of young zebrafish feces efficiently mitigated the metabolic perturbation of PFBS in aged recipients, highlighting the health benefits of therapeutic strategies based on gut microbiota manipulation. In summary, the present study provides preliminary clues to evidence the non-invasive advantage of fecal metabolomics in the early diagnosis and prediction of physiology and toxicology.
为了保护研究动物的健康，需要采用某些非侵入性措施来促进早期诊断健康和毒性。在这项研究中，从成年斑马鱼中收集粪便样本以描绘代谢组指纹。由于老化、全氟丁烷磺酸（PFBS）毒物和粪便移植，粪便代谢物组成的可变性也得到了区分。结果表明，斑马鱼粪便中富含多种代谢物，属于几个主要类别，包括脂质、氨基酸、碳水化合物、维生素、类固醇激素和神经递质。粪便代谢物对多种生理活动具有功能意义，其特征是消化、吸收、内分泌和神经传递过程的富集。粪便代谢物的高丰富度和功能参与指出粪便作为诊断标志物的丰富来源。通过比较年轻和年老的斑马鱼，发现衰老过程导致粪便代谢组发生了根本变化，主要集中在神经活性配体-受体相互作用途径上。暴露于 PFBS 污染物的老年斑马鱼也显著破坏了粪便中的代谢组结构。特别值得关注的是 PFBS 暴露后粪便激素中间产物的变化，这与 PFBS 的体内内分泌干扰效应一致。此外，有趣的是，年轻斑马鱼粪便的移植有效地减轻了年老受者中 PFBS 的代谢扰动，突出了基于肠道微生物群操作的治疗策略的健康益处。总之，本研究为粪便代谢组学在早期诊断和预测生理学和毒理学方面的非侵入性优势提供了初步线索。
