Metabolic profiling of night shift work - The HORMONIT study

Area of Science:

• Metabolomics
• Chronobiology
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Rotating shift work is prevalent in industries like automotive manufacturing.
• Understanding the metabolic impact of shift work is crucial for public health.
• Previous studies indicate potential disruptions in circadian rhythms and metabolism.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the specific metabolic perturbations caused by rotating night shift work.
• To identify key metabolites and biological pathways affected by shift work.
• To elucidate the mechanistic links between shift work and metabolic dysfunction.

Main Methods:

• Collected plasma samples from 49 male rotating shift workers at the end of night shifts and beginning of day shifts.
• Utilized targeted liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) metabolomics to analyze 130 metabolites.
• Employed elastic net selection and linear mixed models to identify influential metabolites and pathways.

Main Results:

• Significant alterations in 20 metabolites, including amino acids (arginine, glutamine), biogenic amines (kynurenine), and lipids (lysoPC, PC variants).
• Observed changes in metabolic pathways such as tryptophan metabolism, glutathione metabolism, alanine metabolism, glycine and serine metabolism, and the urea cycle.
• Night shift work was associated with increased concentrations of several metabolites, indicating metabolic disruption.

Conclusions:

• Rotating night shift work demonstrably perturbs human metabolism.
• Specific metabolic pathways linked to various health outcomes are altered by shift work.
• Findings provide mechanistic insights into the health consequences of irregular work schedules.