Abstract
The phospholipid composition of lipoproteins is determined by the specificity of hepatic phospholipid biosynthesis. Plasma phospholipid 20:4n‐6 and 22:6n‐3 concentrations are higher in women than in men. We used this sex difference in a lipidomics analysis of the impact of endocrine factors on the phospholipid class and molecular species composition of fasting plasma from young men and women. Diester species predominated in all lipid classes measured. 20/54 Phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) species were alkyl ester, 15/48 phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdEtn) species were alkyl ester, and 12/48 PtdEtn species were alkenyl ester. There were no significant differences between sexes in the proportions of alkyl PtdCho species. The proportion of alkyl ester PtdEtn species was greater in women than men, while the proportion of alkenyl ester PtdEtn species was greater in men than women. None of the phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) or phosphatidylserine (PtdSer) molecular species contained ether‐linked fatty acids. The proportion of PtdCho16:0_22:6, and the proportions of PtdEtn O‐16:0_20:4 and PtdEtn O‐18:2_20:4 were greater in women than men. There were no sex differences in PtdIns and PtdSer molecular species compositions. These findings show that plasma phospholipids can be modified by sex. Such differences in lipoprotein phospholipid composition could contribute to sexual dimorphism in patterns of health and disease.
Highlights
The molecular species composition of phospholipids differs between tissues and phospholipid classes (Inoue Lipids (2020)et al, 2017) and is regulated by biochemical and genetic processes (Zhang and Rock, 2008)
The proportion of alkyl ester PtdEtn species was greater in women than men, while the proportion of alkenyl ester PtdEtn species was greater in men than women
Fasting plasma phospholipid molecular species composition primarily reflects that of the liver and hepatic phospholipid synthesis (Burdge et al, 1994; Chalil et al, 2018; Pynn et al, 2011)
Summary
The molecular species composition of phospholipids differs between tissues and phospholipid classes Pregnancy in rats involves a differential increase in hepatic and plasma PtdCho16:0/22:6 and 16:0/20:4 concentrations compared to 18:0/22:6 and 18:0/20:4 concentrations (Burdge et al, 1994; Chalil et al, 2018; Childs et al, 2012), which reflects the increased sn-1 16:0 content of the DAG substrate pools destined for PtdCho and PtdEtn synthesis, and reduced flux through the acyl remodeling pathway. Administration of sex hormones to gonadectomized rats induced reciprocal changes in the PUFA content of liver phospholipids (Eden et al, 1987) One implication of these findings is that regulation of hepatic and plasma phospholipid compositions may be important for sex-related tissue and lipoprotein functions. We analyzed the PtdCho, PtdEtn, PtdIns, and PtdSer molecular species compositions of plasma collected from fasting healthy men and women
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