Lipidomics perturbations in the brain of adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) after exposure to chiral ibuprofen

Abstract The stereoselective effects of chiral ibuprofen (IBU) were studied using lipidomics by exposing adult zebrafish (Danio rerio) to an environmental concentration of 5 μg/L for 28 days. After treatment with rac-/R-(−)-/S-(+)-IBU, the brain tissue of the zebrafish was harvested to analyze for lipid metabolites by using ultra-performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Results showed that the six classes of lipids, namely, glycerophospholipids, sterol lipids, prenol lipids, fatty acyls, glycerolipids, and sphingolipids, including 46 biomarkers, were affected after exposure. The different influences on metabolites were observed in the rac-/R-(−)-/S-(+)-IBU-treated samples. The rac-IBU treatment remarkably affected nine lipids. The R-(−)-IBU and S-(+)-IBU treatments had remarkably effects on six and four lipids, respectively. According to the HMDB database and KEGG pathways, nine important lipids were successfully matched to the involved biochemical pathways, such as glycerophospholipid metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, and linoleic acid metabolism. Therefore, IBU can cause disorders in the metabolism of the brain lipids of adult zebrafish and affect the composition of biological membranes, inflammatory responses, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The significant difference in the effects of R-(−)-IBU and S-(+)-IBU on lipidomics indicated that chiral IBU has stereoselective toxicity to aquatic organisms. Our study provided new insights into the environmental toxicology and highlighted the hazard of pharmaceutical and personal care product pollution in aquatic environments.