[Effect of chronic arsenic exposure on mouse brain tissue and serum metabolomics].
To observe the effect of chronic arsenic exposure on cerebral cortex and serum metabolics of mice and explore the mechanism of arsenic neurotoxicity.



Twelve 3-week-old male C57BL/6J mice were randomly assigned into exposure group and control group and exposed to sodium arsenite (50 mg/L) via drinking water and deionized water for 12 weeks, respectively. After the exposure, arsenic level in the cerebrum was determined by hydride generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry. The metabolites in the cerebral cortex and serum were determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to analyze the difference of the metabolites between the exposure and the control groups. Online tools for analyzing metabolic pathways were used to identify the related metabolites pathways.



Arsenic content in the brain of exposure group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P<0.05). The mice exposed to arsenic had a higher level of citric acid, phenylalanine, tyrosine, histidine and lysine in the cerebral cortex (P<0.05). Serum levels of serine, glycine, proline, aspartate and glutamate were significantly higher while α-ketoglutaric acid level was significantly lower in the exposure group than in the control group (P<0.05). PCA analysis showed a significant difference in cerebral cortex and serum metabolites between the two groups.



Chronic arsenic exposure may affect the function of the central nervous system by interfering with amino acid metabolism and tricarboxylic acid cycle, which may be one of the mechanisms of arsenic neurotoxicity.
School of Public Health and Management, Chongqing Medical University, Research Center for Medicine and Social Development, Innovation Center for Social Risk Governance in Health, Chongqing 400016, China.E-mail: champion-hua@qq.com.
Hua
H
Dai
Yin-Yin
YY
Xia
Ting-Li Han
TH
Ting-Li Han
Philip N Baker
PN
Philip N Baker
Xu
X
Tang
Rui-Yuan
RY
Zhang
Hang
H
Du
Tong-Jian
TJ
Cai
Shu-Qun
SQ
Cheng
D000818:Animals; D001151:Arsenic / Q000633:toxicity*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects*; D008297:Male; D055442:Metabolome; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D044967:Serum / Q000737:chemistry
D001151:Arsenic