Feasibility Study of NMR Based Serum Metabolomic Profiling to Animal Health Monitoring: A Case Study on Iron Storage Disease in Captive Sumatran Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis)

Abstract

A variety of wildlife species maintained in captivity are susceptible to iron storage disease (ISD), or hemochromatosis, a disease resulting from the deposition of excess iron into insoluble iron clusters in soft tissue. Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) is one of the rhinoceros species that has evolutionarily adapted to a low-iron diet and is susceptible to iron overload. Hemosiderosis is reported at necropsy in many African black and Sumatran rhinoceroses but only a small number of animals reportedly die from hemochromatosis. The underlying cause and reasons for differences in susceptibility to hemochromatosis within the taxon remains unclear. Although serum ferritin concentrations have been useful in monitoring the progression of ISD in many species, there is some question regarding their value in diagnosing hemochromatosis in the Sumatran rhino. To investigate the metabolic changes during the development of hemochromatosis and possibly increase our understanding of its progression and individual susceptibility differences, the serum metabolome from a Sumatran rhinoceros was investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomics. The study involved samples from female rhinoceros at the Cincinnati Zoo (n = 3), including two animals that died from liver failure caused by ISD, and the Sungai Dusun Rhinoceros Conservation Centre in Peninsular Malaysia (n = 4). Principal component analysis was performed to visually and statistically compare the metabolic profiles of the healthy animals. The results indicated that significant differences were present between the animals at the zoo and the animals in the conservation center. A comparison of the 43 serum metabolomes of three zoo rhinoceros showed two distinct groupings, healthy (n = 30) and unhealthy (n = 13). A total of eighteen altered metabolites were identified in healthy versus unhealthy samples. Results strongly suggest that NMR-based metabolomics is a valuable tool for animal health monitoring and may provide insight into the progression of this and other insidious diseases.

Reduced Gut Microbiome Diversity and Metabolome Differences in Rhinoceros Species at Risk for Iron Overload Disorder

“…They also tend to be elevated in the fecal metabolome of obese humans (Patil et al, 2012; Ríos-Covián et al, 2016). It has already been demonstrated that the serum metabolic profile of Sumatran rhinoceroses with symptomatic hemochromatosis differs from that of healthy individuals (Watanabe et al, 2016). However, it is not known if such changes occur as a precursor to or an effect of illness.…”

Effects of relocation on metabolic profiles of freshwater mussels: Metabolomics as a tool for improving conservation techniques

“…Because the biochemicals typically detected through metabolomic analyses are involved in primary metabolism, this tool can be applied to myriad animal species. Metabolomics has recently been used to assess health status in captive Sumatran rhinoceros (Watanabe, Roth, Bauer, Lane, & Romick‐Rosendale, ), impact of dietary fluctuations in captive common marmosets (Banton et al, ), and toxic effects of contaminants in fish species (Ekman et al, ; Xu et al, ). Metabolomics is used to study the metabolic changes occurring in an organism in response to environmental change and has potential to improve understanding of the stress‐induced changes both in vertebrates and invertebrates, aquatic and terrestrial species, and in response both to natural fluctuations in the environment and disturbances caused by human activities.…”

Metabolomic profiling implicates mitochondrial and immune dysfunction in disease syndromes of the critically endangered black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis)

“…Metabolomic differences in other taxa have been reported at the species level between naked mole rats and mice 11 , and at the breed level in pigs 12 , cattle 13 , chickens 14 , and dogs 15 . However, there is limited information on serum metabolome of rhinos 16 .…”