TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of aging on human meibum
AU - Butovich, Igor A.
AU - Suzuki, Tomo
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by a National Institutes of Health grant R01 EY027349 (to I.A.B.) and grants from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (16K11295 and 19K09996, to T.S.)
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright 2021 The Authors
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - PURPOSE. The purpose of this study was to determine if aging affects meibum lipid composition in non-meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD)/non-dry eye (DE) population. Aging has been repeatedly linked to pathological changes in various tissues and organs, including the onset of MGD and DE, in a number of clinical and population-wide surveys. Both conditions have been associated with abnormal meibum secretion and composition, among other factors. However, the chemical basis for such a connection has not been established yet. METHODS. To identify and characterize possible changes in the meibum and meibogenesis with aging, lipidomic analyses of meibum samples collected from human subjects of two age groups – young (29 ± 5 years, n = 21) and elderly (68 ± 7 years, n = 29) – with similar male to female ratios in each group were conducted. Intact lipid species from major lipid groups of meibum (such as wax esters, cholesteryl esters, free cholesterol, triacylglycerols, etc.) were compared using lipidome-wide untargeted (such as Principal Component Analysis) and targeted (such as Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures Discriminant Analysis) approaches, along with focused analyses of specific lipid species in liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) experiments. RESULTS. Extremely high similarities of meibum lipids in the two age groups were observed, with only minor changes in the individual lipid species. The magnitude of the intergroup variability for tested lipid species was comparable to the intragroup variability for the same meibum components. No statistically significant differences in the lipid esterification, elongation, and unsaturation patterns were observed. CONCLUSIONS. Chronological aging itself seems to have only minor effect on meibogenesis in healthy, non-MGD/non-DE subjects.
AB - PURPOSE. The purpose of this study was to determine if aging affects meibum lipid composition in non-meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD)/non-dry eye (DE) population. Aging has been repeatedly linked to pathological changes in various tissues and organs, including the onset of MGD and DE, in a number of clinical and population-wide surveys. Both conditions have been associated with abnormal meibum secretion and composition, among other factors. However, the chemical basis for such a connection has not been established yet. METHODS. To identify and characterize possible changes in the meibum and meibogenesis with aging, lipidomic analyses of meibum samples collected from human subjects of two age groups – young (29 ± 5 years, n = 21) and elderly (68 ± 7 years, n = 29) – with similar male to female ratios in each group were conducted. Intact lipid species from major lipid groups of meibum (such as wax esters, cholesteryl esters, free cholesterol, triacylglycerols, etc.) were compared using lipidome-wide untargeted (such as Principal Component Analysis) and targeted (such as Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structures Discriminant Analysis) approaches, along with focused analyses of specific lipid species in liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS-MS) experiments. RESULTS. Extremely high similarities of meibum lipids in the two age groups were observed, with only minor changes in the individual lipid species. The magnitude of the intergroup variability for tested lipid species was comparable to the intragroup variability for the same meibum components. No statistically significant differences in the lipid esterification, elongation, and unsaturation patterns were observed. CONCLUSIONS. Chronological aging itself seems to have only minor effect on meibogenesis in healthy, non-MGD/non-DE subjects.
KW - Aging
KW - Chromatography
KW - Lipidomics
KW - Mass spectrometry
KW - Meibomian glands
KW - Meibum
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U2 - 10.1167/iovs.62.12.23
DO - 10.1167/iovs.62.12.23
M3 - Article
C2 - 34546321
AN - SCOPUS:85115935728
VL - 62
JO - Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science
JF - Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science
SN - 0146-0404
IS - 12
M1 - 23
ER -