Lipidomics: when apocrypha becomes canonical

• Published in: Current opinion in chemical biology Vol. 16; no. 1-2; pp. 221 - 226
• Main Author: Alex Brown, H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2012
• Subjects: Animals; Humans; Lipids - analysis; Lipids - chemistry; Metabolomics - instrumentation; Metabolomics - methods
• ISSN: 1367-5931; 1879-0402
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2012.02.003

[Display omitted] ► Lipidomics has developed well established methodologies and updated nomenclature. ► Several major challenges lie ahead for the field of lipidomics. ► Lipidomics identifies the roles of lipid species in complex biological processes. Lipidomics is a branch of the field of metabolomics. Although only about a decade since its inception, lipidomics has already had a major influence on the way in which questions about lipid metabolism and signaling are posed. The field is intertwined in the culture and rich history of mass spectrometry. Early work emphasized analytical issues such as limits of detection and numbers of molecular species quantitated in single injections. Increased sophistication in applications of lipidomic analysis and emerging technologies, such as imaging mass spectrometry, are facilitating the study of lipid metabolism and signaling species in cellular functions and human diseases. In the coming years we anticipate a richer understanding of how specific lipid species mediate complex biological processes and interconnections between cellular pathways that were thought to be disparate.