The aging mouse lipidome

Abstract

Aging is associated with widespread metabolic changes that contribute to functional decline and disease. While prior studies have characterized age-associated changes in polar metabolites, how the lipidome changes across tissues and between sexes during aging remains incompletely understood. Here, we performed targeted lipidomics across 10 organs collected from male and female mice at five ages spanning adolescence to old age. We quantified 809 lipid species across multiple lipid classes and found that aging affects the lipidome in an organ-specific manner. The thymus and quadriceps muscle had the most age-associated lipid changes, whereas lipid levels in organs such as the kidney and lung remained more stable. In quadriceps muscle, aging was associated with a decrease in specific phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine lipids, particularly those containing adrenic acid. We also identified sex-dependent differences in lipid composition, with the spleen showing differences at throughout life. Spleens from male mice had higher levels of lysophosphatidylcholine and lysophosphatidylethanolamine compared to females. Together, these data provide a comprehensive atlas of age- and sex-associated lipid changes across mouse organs and complement existing metabolic and transcriptomic resources to support studies of mouse aging.