Metabolômica baseada em RMN para caracterização dos efeitos causados pela contaminação ambiental na população circurvizinha à lagoa Mundaú em Maceió – Alagoas (AL), Brasil

Abstract

Environmental contamination causes several adverse effects on human health from childhood onwards; among the most important effects, we can highlight cardiovascular disorders, increased oxidative stress, kidney dysfunction, and mental disorders. A study carried out by our research group demonstrated high levels of potentially toxic metals in Mundaú lake, located in the municipality of Alagoas-AL, as well as in biological samples from fishers who frequent the lake in question. Among the studied metals, we can highlight mercury, which had a higher total concentration in blood (0.73-48.38 μg.L-1) and urine (0.430-10.2 μg.L-1) of these fishermen, when compared to a control group (0.29-17.30 μg.L-1 and 0.210–2.65 μg.L-1 in blood and urine, respectively). Continuing these studies, this work aimed to reveal the effect of exposure to environmental contamination on the metabolism of these same fishermen living in the vicinity of the Mundaú lagoon, using the NMR-based metabolomics. In this case-control study, the orthogonal least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) showed that the exposed group was discriminated from the control group, indicating that environmental contamination caused alterations in the metabolite concentrations. Using Vulcan plots, it was observed that fishers in the exposed group had higher levels of glutamate, creatinine, formate, and glutamine in plasma. In addition, they showed higher levels of glycine and TMAO in urine. These results suggest that environmental contamination in the Mundaú lagoon may be responsible for causing damage to the fishermen's metabolism (Krebs cycle, beta-oxidation, creatine pathway) and oxidative stress (glutathione metabolism).