Changes in plasma phospholipids and sphingomyelins with aging in men and women: A comprehensive systematic review of longitudinal cohort studies

Niyaz Mohammadzadeh Honarvar; Meysam Zarezadeh; Samantha A Molsberry; Alberto Ascherio

doi:10.1016/j.arr.2021.101340

Changes in plasma phospholipids and sphingomyelins with aging in men and women: A comprehensive systematic review of longitudinal cohort studies

Ageing Res Rev. 2021 Jul:68:101340. doi: 10.1016/j.arr.2021.101340. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Authors

Niyaz Mohammadzadeh Honarvar¹, Meysam Zarezadeh², Samantha A Molsberry³, Alberto Ascherio⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 655 Huntington Avenue, Building II 3rd Floor, Boston, MA, 02115, USA; Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. Electronic address: nmohammadzadehhonarvar@mgh.harvard.edu.
² Student Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran; Nutrition Research Center, Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran. Electronic address: meysam.za93@gmail.com.
³ Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 655 Huntington Avenue, Building II 3rd Floor, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
⁴ Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 655 Huntington Avenue, Building II 3rd Floor, Boston, MA, 02115, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 655 Huntington Avenue, Building II 2nd Floor, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.

PMID: 33839333
DOI: 10.1016/j.arr.2021.101340

Abstract

Background: Aging affects the serum levels of various metabolites which may be involved in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases. The aim of this review article is to summarize the relationship between aging and alterations in the plasma phospholipids and sphingomyelins.

Methods: PRISMA guidelines were employed during all steps. MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus, Embase and Web of Sciences databases and Google Scholar were searched up to October 2020. Cohort studies investigating the relationship between aging and within-person changes in sphingomyelin (SM), phosphatidyl choline (PC), lyso PC (LPC) and phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE) were included. Newcastle-Ottawa scale was used to assess the quality of included studies.

Results: A total of 1425 studies were identified. After removing 610 duplicates and 723 irrelevant studies, full texts of 92 articles were evaluated. Of these 92, 6 studies (including data from 7 independent cohorts) met the inclusion criteria and are included in this review. All study populations were healthy and included both men and women. Results by sex were reported in 3 cohorts for PC, 5 cohorts for LPC, 3 cohorts for SM, and only 1 cohort for PE. In men, PC, SM, PE and LPC decreased with aging, although results for LPC were inconsistent. In women, LPC, SM, and PE increased age, whereas changes in PC were inconsistent.

Conclusion: Within-person serum levels of phospholipids and sphingomyelins, decrease during aging in men and increase in women. Notably, however, there were some inconsistencies across studies of LPC in men and of PC in women.

Keywords: Aging; Lipidomics; Lyso-phosphatidylcholine; Phosphatidylcholine; Sphingomyelin; Systematic review.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Aging
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Phosphatidylcholines
Phospholipids*
Sphingomyelins*

Substances

Phosphatidylcholines
Phospholipids
Sphingomyelins

Grants and funding

R01 NS089619/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/United States