The emerging field of lipidomics

Abstract

The crucial role of lipids in cell, tissue and organ physiology is demonstrated by a large number of genetic studies and by many human diseases that involve the disruption of lipid metabolic enzymes and pathways. Examples of such diseases include cancer, diabetes, as well as neurodegenerative and infectious diseases. So far, the explosion of information in the fields of genomics and proteomics has not been matched by a corresponding advancement of knowledge in the field of lipids, which is largely due to the complexity of lipids and the lack of powerful tools for their analysis. Novel analytical approaches--in particular, liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry--for systems-level analysis of lipids and their interacting partners (lipidomics) now make this field a promising area of biomedical research, with a variety of applications in drug and biomarker development.

A Mouse Macrophage Lipidome

“…All lipidomics data (measurements for individual replicates in each lipid category) are available for download from the LIPID MAPS web site (KLA time course and KLA/ compactin time course). Lipid measurements are expressed as pmol/g of DNA, and DNA measurements were conducted as described in the Protocols section of the LIPID MAPS website 7 . The above mentioned website also provides tabular and graphical summaries for each measured analyte as well as statistical analysis in the form of S.E.…”

Metabolic profiling in diabetes

“…Metabolomics can thus be viewed as the equivalent to an 'imaging approach' for the biochemical processes that occur within an organism. The biochemical knowledge that has been accumulated in over a century of individual experiments on cells and tissue cultures provides a thorough basis for the interpretation of perturbations in the metabolic state of a patient and of the underlying metabolic connections inside the human body, as they are revealed by studies of metabolic profiling in diabetes (German et al 2005, Wenk 2005). Application of metabolomics approaches to metabolic disorders, especially diabetes, is particularly promising since deregulations of metabolic processes are expected to be directly related to relevant disease end-points.…”

“…These are small molecules that have been predicted to exist based on the metabolic capabilities of known metabolic pathways, but that these 'expected' metabolites have not yet been detected in a biological sample. These 'expected' metabolites comprise, in particular, lipid species that are made up of several fatty acid side chains with different chain lengths and degrees of desaturation that may occur in a combinatorial fashion (Wenk 2005). The number of metabolites becomes much smaller when the scope is limited to confirmed metabolites in a single biological fluid: in an attempt to detect as many known metabolites as possible in a single sample, a multiplatform metabolomic approach using NMR and a set of different types of MS identified 445 and quantified 378 unique metabolites or metabolite species in human urine (Bouatra et al 2013).…”

Nano for bio: Nanopore arrays for stable and functional lipid bilayer membranes (Mini Review)

“…7 The snuggling of lipids to the proteins embedded in fluid bilayer membranes is poorly understood, but is often of pivotal importance for their function. 8 Therefore artificial bilayers must retain the high flexibility of the integrated proteins.…”