What are Lipids
Cholesterol is an essential structural component of animal cell membranes. It is critical to lipid rafts, small subunits of the cell membrane, which are involved in functions like cell communication.
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Triglycerides are the main constituent of body fat and play an important role in energy storage. They are of special interest in research of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fat to tackle obesity-associated diseases.
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Ceramides are important for cellular signaling, the communication processes of cells. For instance, they are involved in regulating cell size and growth depending on nutrient availability.
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Building blocks of life.
Lipids are a diverse group of small molecules. Glycerolipids, sterol lipids, sphingolipids, phospholipids – there are thousands of distinct lipids. Each of them is chemically unique and they have many different biological functions.
One biological role is to form the matrix of cell membranes, where they support a variety of vital functions. But lipids also function as energy storage, and serve as hormones, essential nutrients or cellular signaling molecules too. More and more we find functions related to individual lipid molecules.
Why are Lipids Important
A disordered lipid metabolism (dyslipidemia) can be the result but also cause of diabetes. In patients with diabetes, the lipid levels of phosphatidylcholines and triacylglycerides are impaired.
doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.116.004503
Stroke and ischaemic heart disease are the leading causes of death. Both are accompanied by impaired cholesterol ester levels. Routine testing can help predict and prevent both cardiovascular diseases.
doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-3311...
Gangliosides, sphingomyelins, phospholipids - the human brain has one of the most complex lipid profiles. In patients with depression, the vulnerable lipid framework of the brain is vastly altered.
doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00459
Cancer cells reprogram their metabolism for rapid proliferation. This also affects phospholipids. Blocking phospholipid synthesis significantly inhibits tumor growth in triple-negative breast cancer.
doi.org/10.1096/fj.201601353R
Lipids in health and disease.
In humans, there are more than 2000 different lipids which are linked to health and disease. Their molecular interplay with genes, proteins and metabolites influences our well-being. This interplay is strongly affected by the cellular supply of each of these lipids.
‘Healthy’ means all lipids are perfectly balanced. Each cell must constantly adjust its lipid metabolism to achieve this goal. A disordered lipid metabolism poses a direct threat to health and life. It can fuel the development and even cause severe diseases.
Lipidomics
The mass spectrometer measures the specific mass of each lipid molecule. Incorporating additional physical parameters, the device generates complex mass spectra from it with millions of data points.
doi.org/10.1002/ejlt.201500145
Mass spectra hold massive information. Among it: the type of lipid molecules and their respective amounts. Bioinformatics solutions decipher the mass spectra and extract the relevant biological data.
doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0029...
Bio-statistics puts the lipid data to the test. Thousands of data points per biological sample are processed to identify patterns that can distinguish between information such as a truly healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) and a secretly obese one.
doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000...
The research questions of our time.
Testing selected lipid molecules provides only a glimpse at the state of health. Measuring all lipids at once paints the big picture, a full lipidome. The technical solution to this is lipidomics, where thousands of lipids from biological samples are analyzed at once.
The lipids are shot into a mass spectrometer. Bioinformatics solutions and bio-statistical methods convert the mass spectrometer results into powerful charts and graphs. These extended lipid profiles tell all about the lipids of the original biological sample.
Study Lipidomics Publications
The key to great research is as simple as elegant: studying.
Which is why we created the Lipidomics Resource Center, an online platform which provides better access to lipid analysis publications – for free, to everybody.
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on December 10, 2023