Associations of the Lipidome with Ageing, Cognitive Decline and Exercise Behaviours

Maria Kadyrov; Luke Whiley; Belinda Brown; Kirk I Erickson; Elaine Holmes

doi:10.3390/metabo12090822

Associations of the Lipidome with Ageing, Cognitive Decline and Exercise Behaviours

Metabolites. 2022 Aug 31;12(9):822. doi: 10.3390/metabo12090822.

Authors

Maria Kadyrov^{1

2

3

4}, Luke Whiley^{1

2

5}, Belinda Brown^{3

4

6}, Kirk I Erickson^{7

8

9}, Elaine Holmes^{1

2

10}

Affiliations

¹ Australian National Phenome Centre, Health Futures Institute, Murdoch University, Harry Perkins Building, 5 Robin Warren Drive, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
² Centre for Computational and Systems Medicine, Health Futures Institute, Murdoch University, Harry Perkins Building, 5 Robin Warren Drive, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
³ Discipline of Exercise Science, College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Healthy Ageing, Health Futures Institute, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
⁵ Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia.
⁶ School of Medical Sciences, Sarich Neuroscience Research Institute, Edith Cowan University, Nedlands, WA 6009, Australia.
⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.
⁸ AdventHealth Research Institute, Neuroscience Institute, Orlando, FL 32804, USA.
⁹ PROFITH "PROmoting FITness and Health Through Physical Activity" Research Group, Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), Department of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.
¹⁰ Division of Integrative Systems and Digestive Medicine, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.

Abstract

One of the most recognisable features of ageing is a decline in brain health and cognitive dysfunction, which is associated with perturbations to regular lipid homeostasis. Although ageing is the largest risk factor for several neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, a loss in cognitive function is commonly observed in adults over the age of 65. Despite the prevalence of normal age-related cognitive decline, there is a lack of effective methods to improve the health of the ageing brain. In light of this, exercise has shown promise for positively influencing neurocognitive health and associated lipid profiles. This review summarises age-related changes in several lipid classes that are found in the brain, including fatty acyls, glycerolipids, phospholipids, sphingolipids and sterols, and explores the consequences of age-associated pathological cognitive decline on these lipid classes. Evidence of the positive effects of exercise on the affected lipid profiles are also discussed to highlight the potential for exercise to be used therapeutically to mitigate age-related changes to lipid metabolism and prevent cognitive decline in later life.

Keywords: ageing; cognition; exercise; lipidomics; liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS); metabolic phenotyping; metabolism; nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR).

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

E. Holmes and M. Kadyrov were funded by the Australian Research Council (grant funding number FL200100220).