Serum phospholipids during aging: a comprehensive systematic review of cross-sectional and case-control studies

Abstract

Background: Lipidome, as a subset of metabolomics, may vary in response to several factors such as aging process. Accordingly, this study aimed to summarize the relationship between aging and alterations in the plasma phospholipids. Methods: MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus, Embase and Web of Sciences databases and Google Scholar were searched until September 2023. PRISMA guidelines were employed during all steps. All cross-sectional and case-control studies exploring the relationship between aging and phosphatidylcholine (PC), Lyso-phosphatidylcholine (LPC), sphingomyelins (SM), Ceramides, posphatidylethanolamines (PE) and phosphatidylinositol (PI) were included. Results: Overall, 8486 studies were identified and finally, 32 studies met our specific inclusion criteria. The present systematic review included 70,499 participants. According to our findings, 4 studies showed that PCs are in a positive and one study indicated an inverse association with aging in both genders. Two studies demonstrated that PCs were positively and negatively associated with aging process in men and women, respectively. Moreover, 4 studies showed that PC’s metabolites are negatively associated with aging too. Two studies demonstrated positive association and two studies indicated an inverse association between LPCs and aging in both genders. Five studies have reported positive and 2 studies found an inverse association between some SMs and aging trend. Five and two studies indicated that PE levels are positively and negatively correlated with aging process, respectively. Conclusion: Phospholipids have crucial roles in aging process, aging-related diseases, and lifespan regulation. Decreased level of PCs, LPCs, have been introduced as a feature of aging.

Keywords: Ageing, Lipidomics, Phospholipids, Systematic review