[Changes in levels of human nutritious metabolites after exposure to abnormal acceleration of sea state].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes in the levels of human blood nutritious metabolites and its major regulating factors after exposure to abnormal acceleration of sea state, and to provide clues for further investigating the mechanism of fatigue due to maritime operations.

METHODS: Using randomly sampling method, 60 healthy male adults from one troop were selected as the subjects on April 20, 2010. All subjects were exposed to six degrees of freedom motion simulator ship for 15 min. Their blood samples were collected before and after exposure to abnormal acceleration immediately. The metabolomic technology was used to measure the levels of nutritious metabolites in the serum. Enzyme - linked immunosorbent assay or radioimmunoassay was used to measure the levels of glucocorticoids, adrenaline, insulin, glucagon, ghrelin, resistin, leptin, and gastric inhibitory peptide.

RESULTS: After exposure to abnormal acceleration, the subjects showed significant decreases in the levels of serum essential amino acids, such as L-lysine[(23.63±8.24)×10(6) vs(32.83±13.58)×10(6), P<0.05], L-methionine[(4.16±1.12)×10(6) vs(5.80±1.69)×10(6), P<0.05], and L-tryptophan[(29.38±8.56)×10(6) vs (35.93±11.82)×10(6), P<0.05], and the levels of some non-essential amino acids, such as L-histidine[(1.69±0.55)×10(6) vs(2.16±0.92)×10(6), P<0.05] and 4-hydroxy- L-proline[(3.21±1.50)× 10(6) vs (7.92±4.79)×10(6), P<0.05]. After exposure to abnormal acceleration, the subjects had significant increases in the levels of serum carbohydrate metabolites, such as glucose[(2412.40±700.36)×10(6) vs(1939.30±554.33)×10(6), P< 0.05] and pyruvic acid[(9.97±5.96)×10(6) vs(2.43±1.34)×10(6), P<0.05], and the levels of fat metabolites, such as β-hydroxybutyric acid[(37.47±60.21)×10(6) vs(10.29±20.64)×10(6), P<0.05], oleic acid[(31.94±30.39)×10(6) vs (15.94±10.37)×10(6), P<0.05], and linoleic acid[(26.19±19.16)× 10(6) vs (13.58±6.29)× 10(6), P<0.05]. After exposure to abnormal acceleration, the subjects had significant increases in the levels of serum glucocorticoids [(743.63±129.06)nmol/L vs (539.66±155.58)nmol/L, P<0.05], adrenaline[(725.04±367.08)pmol/L vs (482.58±194.97)pmol/L, P<0.05], glucagon[(5.85±1.57)pmol/L vs(5.18±1.64)pmol/L, P<0.05], and ghrelin[(62.55±32.34)pmol/L vs (40.47±22.18)pmol/L, P<0.05], and decreases in the levels of serum insulin[(107.41±21.09)pmol/L vs(150.89±48.65)pmol/L, P<0.05], gastric inhibitory peptide[(41.05±17.91)pmol/L vs(170.34±82.64) pmol/L, P<0.05], leptin[(25.62±21.75)nmol/L vs (46.50±27.40)nmol/L, P<0.05], and resistin[(209.24±107.65)nmol/L vs (535.04±263.13)nmol/L, P<0.05].

CONCLUSION: After exposure to abnormal acceleration of sea state, the levels of serum nutritious metabolites show significant changes and the levels of fatigue-associated products, such as serum pyruvic acid, increase significantly, which may be related to induced stress response and changes in the levels of metabolic regulators.