MP20 'Omic' Technologies - Current and Future Applications to Environmental Toxicology
Monday, 14 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 6:30 PM in Exhibit Hall

(LIN-1117-842646) Acute effects of crude oil and dispersed oil on Chinook salmon smolts using NMR-based metabolomics.

Lin, Ching Yu¹, Viant, Mark², Anderson, Brian¹, Tjeerdema, Ron¹, ¹ Dept. Environmental Toxicology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA² School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Bermingham, B15 2TT, UK

ABSTRACT- Due to the large maritime transport of crude oil from Alaska to California, there is significant potential for catastrophic spills that could seriously impact salmon populations during key periods of their migration, particularly when salmon smolts are entering the ocean from native streams and rivers. This study examines the toxic actions of the water-accommodated fraction and chemically dispersed fraction (a chemically enhanced water-accommodated fraction) of Prudhoe Bay Crude Oil to smolts of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). A NMR-based metablomic approach that combines the metabolic profiling capabilities of NMR spectroscopy with multivariate statistical techniques was applied in this study. Following 96 hour exposure, muscle and liver tissues of smolts were removed and flash frozen. The low molecular weight metabolites were extracted and then analyzed using high resolution ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. After subsequent spectral processing, the metabolites were examined using principal component analysis to identify the metabolic changes. Metabolites including glycolytic and tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, as well as high-energy phosphorus-containing compounds were correlated with oil or dispersed oil exposures. We have found that the liver is more sensitive in responding to oil exposure compared with the muscle. NMR-based metabolomics is a rapid, sensitive, less expensive, and high through-put approach to identify metabolic fingerprints and develop biomarkers in responding to environmental contaminants.

Key words: metabolomics, oil spill, chinook salmon, biomarkers