Untargeted Metabolite Profiling of Adipose Tissue in Rats Exposed to Mepiquat

Mepiquat (Mep) is a contaminant produced by Maillard reaction with reducing sugar, free lysine and an alkylating agent under typical roasting conditions, particularly in the range of 200–240 °C. It has been reported that exposure to Mep is harmful to rats. However, its metabolic mechanism is still not clear. In this study, untargeted metabolomics was used to reveal the effect of Mep on the metabolic profile of adipose tissue in Sprague-Dawley rats. Twenty-six differential metabolites were screened out. Eight major perturbed metabolic pathways were found, which were linoleic acid metabolism, Phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis, phenylalanine metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, Glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism, Alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism, and glyoxylate and dicarboxylic acid metabolism. This study lays a solid foundation for clarifying the toxic mechanism of Mep.