Study of Nephrotoxins-Treated Samples by NMR Coupled with Pattern Recognition Method

¹H NMR-based metabonomic method was used to investigate the biochemical variability in serum from rats treated by nephrotoxins. The toxic effect of the model toxins, sodium chromate (Na₂CrO₄, 20 mg/kg body mass), 2-bromoethanamine hydrobromide (BEA, 250 mg/kg body mass) and mercury II chloride (HgCl₂, 1 mg/kg body mass), was evaluated by ¹H NMR spectroscopy accompanied by principal components analysis (PCA) method. The result showed that common changes in these ¹H NMR spectra profile of serum included elevation in levels of LDL, VLDL, lactate, creatinine, fatty acyl as well as decrease of glucose, which could be serum NMR markers of renal toxicity. The additional changes in the NMR spectroscopy brought by HgCl₂ included increase of acetate, acetone acetoacetate and decrease of taurine signals, which were mainly related to its slight hepatotoxicity. The above results were supported by clinical chemistry parameters, and the main serum biomarkers of renal toxicity recognized in the NMR spectral profiles were conformed to the results of PCA. The pilot studies demonstrate that the combination of ¹H NMR and pattern recognition analysis is an effective method in biological studies and might provide further information in toxicological study.