A metabolomics approach to understand mechanism of heat stress response in rat

Abstract

My research involves the studying the effects of heat stress on rat using a metabolomics approach. The focus of my research is identifying the affected metabolic pathways in multiple organs during the recovery from heat stress. In the first phase, a data driven approach was used to establish the most efficient and robust methods to be used for metabolic profiling experiments. Adult, male, Sprague-Dawley rats were then exposed to a temperature of 41C for 10 minutes and sacrificed at different time-points after recovery. Blood and tissue samples (liver, lungs, heart and kidney) were extracted and their metabolic profiles were obtained. Using multivariate data analysis, easy visualization of differences or similarities between datasets of control and heat stressed tissue samples was accomplished. A comprehensive list of metabolites from diverse pathways in different organs affected by heat stress has been prepared. Some of these ions were identified and mapped to pathways by comparing with an internally maintained database. We hope that these results will help in monitoring performance and recovery of military personnel under heat stress.