May 6

Hot Off the Press: The brain lipidomes of subcortical ischemic vascular dementia and mixed dementia

VaD MIX lipidome

 Despite its importance as the leading cause of vascular dementia in Asia (Chen 2004), the primary pathogenic mechanisms in subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD) have remained elusive. Because of the lack of approved therapeutic agents for SIVD, there is a pressing need to identify novel therapeutic targets. In work led by collaborators Guanghou Shui and Markus Wenk, we performed comparative lipidomic analyses of SIVD and mixed dementia (i.e., SIVD and Alzheimer’s disease, MixD) which may confer new insights pertaining to the possible interaction between neurodegenerative and vascular mechanisms in the pathogenesis of dementia. Liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry was used to comprehensively analyze the lipidomes of white and gray matter from the temporal cortex of nondemented controls, SIVD, and MixD subjects. Detailed molecular profiles highlighted the pathologic relevance of gray matter sphingolipid fatty acyl chain heterogeneity in dementia. In addition, the levels of sulfatides and lysobisphosphatidic acids were progressively increased in the temporal cortex gray matter from control to SIVD to MixD. White matter phospholipid profiles indicated possible adaptive mechanisms (i.e., increased unsaturation) to chronic ischemia in SIVD and elevated membrane degradation in MixD.

References

Chen CP (2004) Transcultural expression of subcortical vascular disease. J Neurol Sci 226:45-47.

Lam SM, Wang Y, Duan X, Wenk MR, Kalaria RN, Chen CP, Lai MK, Shui G (This paper).


© 2014 Lai Lab, NUS. All rights reserved.

Posted May 6, 2014 by Mitchell Lai in category Dementia "-Omics" & Biomarkers, Hot Off the Press