TY - JOUR
T1 - Factors affecting longitudinal trajectories of plasma sphingomyelins
T2 - The Baltimore longitudinal study of aging
AU - Mielke, Michelle M.
AU - Bandaru, Veera Venkata Ratnam
AU - Han, Dingfen
AU - An, Yang
AU - Resnick, Susan M.
AU - Ferrucci, Luigi
AU - Haughey, Norman J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 The Authors. Aging Cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2015/2/1
Y1 - 2015/2/1
N2 - Sphingomyelin metabolism has been linked to several diseases and to longevity. However, few epidemiological studies have quantified individual plasma sphingomyelin species (identified by acyl-chain length and saturation) or their relationship between demographic factors and disease processes. In this study, we determined plasma concentrations of distinct sphingomyelin species in 992 individuals, aged 55 and older, enrolled in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Participants were followed, with serial measures, up to 6 visits and 38 years (3972 total samples). Quantitative analyses were performed on a high-performance liquid chromatography-coupled electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometer. Linear mixed models were used to assess variation in specific sphingomyelin species and associations with demographics, diseases, medications or lifestyle factors, and plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels. We found that most sphingomyelin species increased with age. Women had higher plasma levels of all sphingomyelin species and showed steeper trajectories of age-related increases compared to men. African Americans also showed higher circulating sphingomyelin concentrations compared to Caucasians. Diabetes, smoking, and plasma triglycerides were associated with lower levels of many sphingomyelins and dihydrosphingomyelins. Notably, these associations showed specificity to sphingomyelin acyl-chain length and saturation. These results demonstrate that longitudinal changes in circulating sphingomyelin levels are influenced by age, sex, race, lifestyle factors, and diseases. It will be important to further establish the intra-individual age- and sex-specific changes in each sphingomyelin species in relation to disease onset and progression.
AB - Sphingomyelin metabolism has been linked to several diseases and to longevity. However, few epidemiological studies have quantified individual plasma sphingomyelin species (identified by acyl-chain length and saturation) or their relationship between demographic factors and disease processes. In this study, we determined plasma concentrations of distinct sphingomyelin species in 992 individuals, aged 55 and older, enrolled in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Participants were followed, with serial measures, up to 6 visits and 38 years (3972 total samples). Quantitative analyses were performed on a high-performance liquid chromatography-coupled electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometer. Linear mixed models were used to assess variation in specific sphingomyelin species and associations with demographics, diseases, medications or lifestyle factors, and plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels. We found that most sphingomyelin species increased with age. Women had higher plasma levels of all sphingomyelin species and showed steeper trajectories of age-related increases compared to men. African Americans also showed higher circulating sphingomyelin concentrations compared to Caucasians. Diabetes, smoking, and plasma triglycerides were associated with lower levels of many sphingomyelins and dihydrosphingomyelins. Notably, these associations showed specificity to sphingomyelin acyl-chain length and saturation. These results demonstrate that longitudinal changes in circulating sphingomyelin levels are influenced by age, sex, race, lifestyle factors, and diseases. It will be important to further establish the intra-individual age- and sex-specific changes in each sphingomyelin species in relation to disease onset and progression.
KW - Aging
KW - Dihydrosphingomyelin
KW - Human
KW - Longitudinal
KW - Sex differences
KW - Sphingomyelin
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84922611821&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1111/acel.12275
DO - 10.1111/acel.12275
M3 - Article
C2 - 25345489
AN - SCOPUS:84922611821
SN - 1474-9718
VL - 14
SP - 112
EP - 121
JO - Aging Cell
JF - Aging Cell
IS - 1
ER -