Isobaric Tags for Relative and Absolute Quantification (iTRAQ)-Based Untargeted Quantitative Proteomic Approach To Identify Change of the Plasma Proteins by Salbutamol Abuse in Beef Cattle

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 2018-01, Vol.66 (1), p.378-386
• Main Authors: Zhang, Kai, Tang, Chaohua, Liang, Xiaowei, Zhao, Qingyu, Zhang, Junmin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.7b04397

Salbutamol, a selective β2-agonist, endangers the safety of animal products as a result of illegal use in food animals. In this study, an iTRAQ-based untargeted quantitative proteomic approach was applied to screen potential protein biomarkers in plasma of cattle before and after treatment with salbutamol for 21 days. A total of 62 plasma proteins were significantly affected by salbutamol treatment, which can be used as potential biomarkers to screen for the illegal use of salbutamol in beef cattle. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay measurements of five selected proteins demonstrated the reliability of iTRAQ-based proteomics in screening of candidate biomarkers among the plasma proteins. The plasma samples collected before and after salbutamol treatment were well-separated by principal component analysis (PCA) using the differentially expressed proteins. These results suggested that an iTRAQ-based untargeted quantitative proteomic strategy combined with PCA pattern recognition methods can discriminate differences in plasma protein profiles collected before and after salbutamol treatment.