3-Monochloropropane-1,2-diol(3-MCPD)
fatty acid esters can release free
3-MCPD in a certain condition. Free
3-MCPD is a well-known food contaminant and is toxicological well characterized, however, in contrast to free
3-MCPD, the toxicological characterization of
3-MCPD fatty acid esters is puzzling. In this study, toxicological and metabonomics studies of 3-chloropropane-1,2-dipalmitate(3-MCPD dipalmitate) were carried out based on an acute oral toxicity test, a 90-day feeding test and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) analysis. The LD50 value of
3-MCPD dipalmitate was determined to be 1780 mg/kg
body weight (bw) for Wistar rats. The results of the 90-day feeding test in male Wistar rats showed that
3-MCPD dipalmitate caused a significant increase in blood
urea nitrogen and
creatinine in the high-dose group (267 mg/kg bw/day) compared to control rats. Renal tubular epithelium cell degeneration and renal tubular hyaline cast accumulation were the major histopathological changes in rats administered
3-MCPD dipalmitate. Urine samples obtained after the 90-day feeding test and analyzed by UPLC-MS showed that the differences in metabolic profiles between control and treated rats were clearly distinguished by partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) of the chromatographic data. Five metabolite
biomarkers which had earlier and significant variations had been identified, they were first considered to be the early, sensitive
biomarkers in evaluating the effect of
3-MCPD dipalmitate exposure, and the possible mechanism of these
biomarkers variation was elucidated. The combination of histopathological examination, clinical chemistry and metabolomics analyses in rats resulted in a systematic and comprehensive assessment of the long-term toxicity of
3-MCPD dipalmitate.