Machine learning based metabolic analysis about the regulation of glutathione synthesis in mouse brain due to radon inhalation

Kanzaki, Norie; Sakoda, Akihiro; Tanaka, Hiroshi; Kataoka, Takahiro*; Ishida, Tsuyoshi; Yamaoka, Kiyonori*

no journal, , 

We found that glutathione was elevated by radon inhalation. However, the mechanism of production of glutathione has been known quite little. In the present study, the metabolic analysis focusing on the sulfur metabolites including anti-oxidative substances was performed to find the change in sulfur metabolites in mouse brain following radon inhalation. Brains taken from male BALB/c mice after radon exposure at background level, 1000 or 10000 Bq/m for 24 h were used for the exhaustive assay of sulfur metabolism-related substances. As a result, we detected 27 out of 55 metabolites in brain. We found the induction of glutathione precursor cysteine and cystathionine due to radon inhalation. This suggests that the increase of glutathione associated with radon inhalation could rely on the transsulfuration pathway. Moreover, the information on 27 sulfur metabolites detected in the present assay was comprehensively analyzed using self-organizing maps. Based on this clustering, a possibility of sulfur metabolites working as a biomarker for estimating radiation doses will be discussed.