April 15, 2024
RIKEN
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
Keio University
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
A joint research group from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Laboratory for Metabolomics, including Visiting Scientist Hiroshi Tsugawa (Associate Professor, Institute of Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology), Research Scientist Tomoaki Ishihara (at the time of research, now Visiting Scientist), and Team Leader Makoto Arita (Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy, Keio University), has shed light on part of the age-related metabolic changes and their molecular mechanisms by examining the diverse changes in lipid metabolism that occur with aging from multiple perspectives, including various organs, sex differences, and the presence or absence of gut microbiota.
Using non-targeted lipidomics technology, a method for comprehensively capturing the structure and abundance of lipid metabolites, the team constructed a lipidome atlas that comprehensively maps the diversity of lipids and their age-related changes in various organs, cells, and blood of mice at different developmental stages. Within this atlas, they discovered that the levels of lipid metabolites in specific organs fluctuate with age, depending on sex and the presence or absence of gut microbiota. These fundamental findings are expected to contribute to understanding the mechanisms linking age-related changes in lipid metabolism to disease risk in humans.
This research was published in the online edition of the scientific journal Nature Aging on April 12 (JST).
The full press release can be found below.