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Lipidomics and Neurodegenerative Diseases

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Biochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 30176

Special Issue Editors

Centro Interdipartimentale SMART, Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Bari, Italy
Interests: Tandem mass spectrometry; SQDG; pro-drugs; signaling molecules
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Centro Interdipartimentale SMART, Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Bari, Bari, Italy
Interests: Lipidomics; phospholipids in blood microparticles and platelets; seafood lipidomics; HILIC-ESI-MS
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Lipidomics is a targeted approach focusing on the comprehensive analysis of all lipids in biological systems. The development of soft ionization techniques, such as electrospray (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS), has greatly enhanced the development and application of lipidomics.

Facing lipidomic analysis by MS offers both the understanding of the definite functions of lipid species in health and disease and allows the identification of potential biomarkers for establishing protective and/or therapeutic programs for human disease.

Lipid metabolism may be of great importance for the nervous system, which represents the second highest concentration of lipids, surpassed only by the adipose tissue. The crucial role of lipids in cell signaling and tissue physiology is demonstrated by numerous neurological disorders (e.g., bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Niemann–Pick diseases) in which lipid metabolism is dysregulated. Lipidomic analyses may provide powerful tools to elucidate the specific roles of lipids and their intermediates in cell signaling and open new opportunities for drug development.

This Special Issue focuses on the recent advancements in lipidomic technologies including sample preparation, direct-infusion ESI–MS and ESI–MS/MS, LC coupled with ESI–MS or MS/MS, MALDI and advanced molecular imaging techniques for their selected applications in neurodegenerative diseases.

Prof. Dr. Cosima damiana Calvano
Prof. Dr. Tommaso Cataldi
Prof. Dr. Ilario Losito
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Editorial

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5 pages, 209 KiB  
Editorial
Editorial to the Special Issue “Lipidomics and Neurodegenerative Diseases”
by Cosima Damiana Calvano, Ilario Losito and Tommaso Cataldi
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(3), 1270; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22031270 - 28 Jan 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1916
Abstract
The contribution of dysregulation of lipid signaling and metabolism to neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s is the focus of this special issue. Here, the matter of three reviews and one research article is summarized. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lipidomics and Neurodegenerative Diseases)

Research

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18 pages, 2490 KiB  
Article
Searching for Potential Lipid Biomarkers of Parkinson’s Disease in Parkin-Mutant Human Skin Fibroblasts by HILIC-ESI-MS/MS: Preliminary Findings
by Cosima D. Calvano, Giovanni Ventura, Anna Maria M. Sardanelli, Laura Savino, Ilario Losito, Giuseppe De Michele, Francesco Palmisano and Tommaso R. I. Cataldi
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(13), 3341; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms20133341 - 07 Jul 2019
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3356
Abstract
Early diagnosis of neural changes causing cerebral impairment is critical for proposing preventive therapies for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Biomarkers currently available cannot be informative of PD onset since they are characterized by analysing post-mortem tissues from patients with severe degeneration of the substantia [...] Read more.
Early diagnosis of neural changes causing cerebral impairment is critical for proposing preventive therapies for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Biomarkers currently available cannot be informative of PD onset since they are characterized by analysing post-mortem tissues from patients with severe degeneration of the substantia nigra. Skin fibroblasts (SF) are now recognized as a useful model of primary human cells, capable of reflecting the chronological and biological aging of the subjects. Here a lipidomic study of easily accessible primary SF is presented, based on hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization and mass spectrometry (HILIC/ESI-MS). Phospholipids (PL) from dermal fibroblasts of five PD patients with different parkin mutations and healthy control SF were characterized by single and tandem MS measurements using a hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap and a linear ion trap mass analysers. The proposed approach enabled the identification of more than 360 PL. Univariate statistical analyses highlight abnormality of PL metabolism in the PD group, suggesting down- or up-regulation of certain species according to the extent of disease progression. These findings, although preliminary, suggest that the phospholipidome of human SF represents a source of potential biomarkers for the early diagnosis of PD. The dysregulation of ethanolamine plasmalogens in the circulatory system, especially those containing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), might be likely associated with neurodegeneration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lipidomics and Neurodegenerative Diseases)
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Review

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27 pages, 1152 KiB  
Review
Lipid and Lipid Raft Alteration in Aging and Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Window for the Development of New Biomarkers
by Fátima Mesa-Herrera, Lucas Taoro-González, Catalina Valdés-Baizabal, Mario Diaz and Raquel Marín
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(15), 3810; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms20153810 - 04 Aug 2019
Cited by 109 | Viewed by 12057
Abstract
Lipids in the brain are major components playing structural functions as well as physiological roles in nerve cells, such as neural communication, neurogenesis, synaptic transmission, signal transduction, membrane compartmentalization, and regulation of gene expression. Determination of brain lipid composition may provide not only [...] Read more.
Lipids in the brain are major components playing structural functions as well as physiological roles in nerve cells, such as neural communication, neurogenesis, synaptic transmission, signal transduction, membrane compartmentalization, and regulation of gene expression. Determination of brain lipid composition may provide not only essential information about normal brain functioning, but also about changes with aging and diseases. Indeed, deregulations of specific lipid classes and lipid homeostasis have been demonstrated in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Furthermore, recent studies have shown that membrane microdomains, named lipid rafts, may change their composition in correlation with neuronal impairment. Lipid rafts are key factors for signaling processes for cellular responses. Lipid alteration in these signaling platforms may correlate with abnormal protein distribution and aggregation, toxic cell signaling, and other neuropathological events related with these diseases. This review highlights the manner lipid changes in lipid rafts may participate in the modulation of neuropathological events related to AD and PD. Understanding and characterizing these changes may contribute to the development of novel and specific diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in routinely clinical practice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lipidomics and Neurodegenerative Diseases)
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27 pages, 1566 KiB  
Review
Evaluation of the Common Molecular Basis in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases
by Pratip Rana, Edian F. Franco, Yug Rao, Khajamoinuddin Syed, Debmalya Barh, Vasco Azevedo, Rommel T. J. Ramos and Preetam Ghosh
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(15), 3730; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms20153730 - 30 Jul 2019
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 6683
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are the most common neurodegenerative disorders related to aging. Though several risk factors are shared between these two diseases, the exact relationship between them is still unknown. In this paper, we analyzed how these two diseases [...] Read more.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) are the most common neurodegenerative disorders related to aging. Though several risk factors are shared between these two diseases, the exact relationship between them is still unknown. In this paper, we analyzed how these two diseases relate to each other from the genomic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic viewpoints. Using an extensive literature mining, we first accumulated the list of genes from major genome-wide association (GWAS) studies. Based on these GWAS studies, we observed that only one gene (HLA-DRB5) was shared between AD and PD. A subsequent literature search identified a few other genes involved in these two diseases, among which SIRT1 seemed to be the most prominent one. While we listed all the miRNAs that have been previously reported for AD and PD separately, we found only 15 different miRNAs that were reported in both diseases. In order to get better insights, we predicted the gene co-expression network for both AD and PD using network analysis algorithms applied to two GEO datasets. The network analysis revealed six clusters of genes related to AD and four clusters of genes related to PD; however, there was very low functional similarity between these clusters, pointing to insignificant similarity between AD and PD even at the level of affected biological processes. Finally, we postulated the putative epigenetic regulator modules that are common to AD and PD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lipidomics and Neurodegenerative Diseases)
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20 pages, 1675 KiB  
Review
Alteration of Sphingolipids in Biofluids: Implications for Neurodegenerative Diseases
by Luciana M. Pujol-Lereis
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2019, 20(14), 3564; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms20143564 - 21 Jul 2019
Cited by 38 | Viewed by 5156
Abstract
Sphingolipids (SL) modulate several cellular processes including cell death, proliferation and autophagy. The conversion of sphingomyelin (SM) to ceramide and the balance between ceramide and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), also known as the SL rheostat, have been associated with oxidative stress and neurodegeneration. Research in [...] Read more.
Sphingolipids (SL) modulate several cellular processes including cell death, proliferation and autophagy. The conversion of sphingomyelin (SM) to ceramide and the balance between ceramide and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), also known as the SL rheostat, have been associated with oxidative stress and neurodegeneration. Research in the last decade has focused on the possibility of targeting the SL metabolism as a therapeutic option; and SL levels in biofluids, including serum, plasma, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), have been measured in several neurodegenerative diseases with the aim of finding a diagnostic or prognostic marker. Previous reviews focused on results from diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), evaluated total SL or species levels in human biofluids, post-mortem tissues and/or animal models. However, a comprehensive review of SL alterations comparing results from several neurodegenerative diseases is lacking. The present work compiles data from circulating sphingolipidomic studies and attempts to elucidate a possible connection between certain SL species and neurodegeneration processes. Furthermore, the effects of ceramide species according to their acyl-chain length in cellular pathways such as apoptosis and proliferation are discussed in order to understand the impact of the level alteration in specific species. Finally, enzymatic regulations and the possible influence of insulin resistance in the level alteration of SL are evaluated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Lipidomics and Neurodegenerative Diseases)
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