Chemometric analysis of biofluids following toxicant induced hepatotoxicity: a metabonomic approach to distinguish the effects of 1-naphthylisothiocyanate from its products.

Metabonomics using high-resolution 1H-NMR spectroscopy of biofluids and pattern recognition is highly successful at distinguishing both organ- and sub-organ-specific toxicity. In the current study, this technique was investigated to distinguish the different biological effects caused by 1-naphthylisothiocyanate (ANIT)-induced hepatotoxicity in the rat from that induced by exposure to 1-naphthylisocyanate (NI) and 1-naphthylamine (NA), two products of the metabolism of ANIT. While all three toxicants produced perturbations in similar urinary metabolites, principal components analysis of the temporal progression identified that the rapid initial glycosuria associated with ANIT toxicity was also present with NI but not NA dosing. However, longer-term perturbations in the urinary excretion of succinate, lactate and acetate were common to all three toxicants. The metabolic effects of the three compounds were also followed in blood plasma and liver tissue. Of the three toxicants, the most marked perturbations were induced by ANIT exposure, then NI, thereby indicating the effects of ANIT, NI and NA toxicity were distinct, with ANIT being the most, and NA the least, toxic of the three compounds. This indicates that metabonomics may be useful for following severity and mechanisms of toxicity in a series of related compounds during drug development.