Metabolomic Analysis of Adipose Tissue in Rats Exposed to Triptolide

Abstract

Triptolide is the main active component of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. F., which is one of the forbidden species by the Chinese Ministry of Health. A GC–MS-based metabolomic approach was applied to estimate the adipose toxicity induced by triptolide. The metabolomic study discovered that triptolide exposure caused a remarkable increase in fatty acids. For instance, nonanoic acid, dodecanoic acid, cis-9-hexadecenoic acid, hexadecanoic acid, 9,12-octadecadienoic acid, trans-9-octadecenoic acid, octadecanoic acid, arachidonic acid, and eicosanoic acid increased from 1.03- to 10.21-fold in high-dose triptolide-exposed rats compared to the control group. In addition, l-alanine, glycine, l-valine, fumaric acid, l-proline, glucose, and l-tyrosine were observed to have a down-regulation in the adipose tissue, induced by triptolide exposure. Many metabolites in high-dose group demonstrated the noticeable alterations in adipose tissue of rats brought by triptolide exposure, although the difference between low-dose group and control group was not noted. The results illustrated not only fatty acid β-oxidation, lipid accumulation, and reduction of amino acids in the adipose tissue of SD rats because of triptolide exposure, but also that the tricarboxylic acid cycle was influenced. A metabolomic method was successful in finding latent biomarkers.