Metabonomic characterization of genetic variations in toxicological and metabolic responses using probabilistic neural networks

Current emphasis on efficient screening of novel therapeutic agents in toxicological studies has resulted in the evaluation of novel analytical technologies, including genomic (transcriptomic) and proteomic approaches. We have shown that high-resolution H-1 NMR spectroscopy of biofluids and tissues coupled with appropriate chemometric analysis can also provide complementary data for use in in vivo toxicological screening of drugs. Metabonomics concerns the quantitative analysis of the dynamic multiparametric metabolic response of living systems to pathophysiological stimuli or genetic modification [Nicholson, J. K., Lindon, J. C., and Holmes, E. (1999) Xenobiotica Il, 1181-1189]. In this study, we have used H-1 NMR spectroscopy to characterize the time-related changes in the urinary metabolite profiles of laboratory rats treated with 13 model toxins and drugs which predominantly target liver or kidney. These H-1 NMR spectra were data-reduced and subsequently analyzed using a probabilistic neural network (PNN) approach. The methods encompassed a database of 1310 samples, of which 583 comprised a training set for the neural network, with the remaining 727 (independent cases) employed as a test set for validation. Using these techniques, the 13 classes of toxicity, together with the variations associated with strain, were distinguishable to > 90%. Analysis of the H-1 NMR spectral data by multilayer perceptron networks and principal components analysis gave a similar but less accurate classification than PNN analysis. This study has highlighted the value of probabilistic neural networks in developing accurate NMR-based metabonomic models for the prediction of xenobiotic-induced toxicity in experimental animals and indicates possible future uses in accelerated drug discovery programs. Furthermore, the sensitivity of this tool to strain differences may prove to be useful in investigating the genetic variation of metabolic responses and for assessing the validity of specific animal models.