Newly discovered anti-inflammatory molecules may lead to new treatments for age-related neurological diseases
/A new group of lipids may help to unravel the molecular basis of brain aging and could lead to new treatments for nerve diseases associated with aging.
A study by researchers from Salk Institute and UC San Diego scientists identified a class of lipids called SGDGs (3-sulfogalactosyl diacylglycerols) that may have anti-inflammatory benefits. This class of lipids declines in the brain with age, as the risk of neurological diseases increases.
Normal lipids contribute to the structure, development and function of healthy brains. Badly regulated lipids are associated with aging and diseased brains. However, lipids, unlike genes and proteins, are not well understood and have often been overlooked in aging research.
This research looked at SGDGs, a class of lipids first identified in the 1970s. Because little research has focused on the role of lipids, they had been largely forgotten. Researchers had no idea that SGDGs have anti-inflammatory properties that are regulated or affected in aging.
The discovery has researchers thinking that SGDGs can potentially be targetable for therapies aimed at improving brain health.
“These SGDGs clearly play an important role in aging, and this finding opens up the possibility that there are other critical aging pathways we’ve been missing,” co-corresponding author Alan Saghatelian, professor in Salk’s Clayton Foundation Laboratories for Peptide Biology, told Salk News. “This is a pretty clear case of something that should be dug into more in the future.”
The research began with a study of mice. Investigators found lipid levels are different in older mice than younger mice. They also found SGDGs changed with age – and that they may be regulated by the same processes known to regulate aging.
Researchers also found that SGDGs exist in human and primate brains. This means SGDGs may play an important role in animals other than mice. Further research is needed to determine if they contribute to human inflammation in the brain or spinal cord.
This so-called neuroinflammation is often related to aging. Research has shown that a healthy but aging brain has increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and reduced levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines, demonstrating that the factor of age alone is linked with chronic neuroinflammation.
Similarly, neurodegenerative disease and neuroinflammation are intrinsically linked. Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis are all related to neuroinflammation.
This research represents the first steps on a long journey towards developing effective therapies that can fight premature brain aging. But the discovery of the role that SGDGs play in that aging is certainly exciting.