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Urinary Lipidomics: evidence for multiple sources and sexual dimorphism in healthy individuals

The Pharmacogenomics Journal volume 18, pages 331–339 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Urinary lipidomics may add new valuable biomarkers to the diagnostic armamentarium for early detection of metabolic and kidney diseases. Sources and composition of urinary lipids in healthy individuals, however, have not been investigated in detail. Shotgun lipidomics was used to quantify lipidomic profiles in native urine samples from 16 individuals (eight men, eight women) collected in five fractions over 24 h. All probands were comprehensively characterized by urinary and clinical indices. The mean total urinary lipid concentration per sample was 0.84 μM in men and 1.03 μM in women. We observed significant intra- and interindividual variations of lipid concentrations over time, but failed to detect a clear circadian pattern. Based on quantity and subclass composition it seems very unlikely that plasma serves as major source for the urinary lipidome. Considering lipid metabolites occurring in at least 20% of all samples 38 lipid species from 7 lipid classes were identified. Four phosphatidylserine and one phosphatidylethanolamine ether species (PE-O 36:5) were detectable in almost all urine samples. Sexual dimorphism has been found mainly for phosphatidylcholines and phosphatidylethanolamines. In men and in women urinary lipid species were highly correlated with urinary creatinine and albumin excretion, reflecting glomerular filtration and tubular transport processes. In women, however, lipid species deriving from urinary cells and cellular constituents of the lower genitourinary tract considerably contributed to the urinary lipidome. In conclusion, our study revealed the potential of urinary lipidomics but also the complexity of methodological challenges which have to be overcome for its implementation as a routine diagnostic tool for renal, urological and metabolic diseases.

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Acknowledgements

JL has been supported by grant 02.A03.21.0011 from the 5-100 Project, under the Act 211 of the Government of the Russian Federation. We declare that there is no financial support from commercial sources or other financial interests which could create a potential conflict of interest with regard to this work.

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Author notes

  1. J Graessler and C S Mehnert: These authors equally contributed to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department and Outpatient Department of Medicine III, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universitaet Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    J Graessler, C S Mehnert, S Strauss, T D Bornstein, A L Birkenfeld & S R Bornstein

  2. Department of Surgery, King’s College Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    K-M Schulte

  3. Department of Surgery, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    K-M Schulte

  4. Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universitaet Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    S Bergmann

  5. Mind and Brain Theme, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, North Terrace, Adelaide, Australia

    J Licinio & M-L Wong

  6. School of Medicine, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Adelaide, Australia

    J Licinio & M-L Wong

  7. South Ural State University Biomedical School, Chelyabinsk,, Russian Federation

    J Licinio

  8. Division of Diabetes & Nutritional Sciences, King's College Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    A L Birkenfeld & S R Bornstein

  9. Study Center for Metabolic Vascular Medicine, GWT TU-Dresden GmbH, Dresden, Germany

    A L Birkenfeld

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  1. J Graessler
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Correspondence to J Graessler.

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Graessler, J., Mehnert, C., Schulte, KM. et al. Urinary Lipidomics: evidence for multiple sources and sexual dimorphism in healthy individuals. Pharmacogenomics J 18, 331–339 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/tpj.2017.24

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