Lipidomics is the study of pathways and networks of cellular lipids in biological system it describes the complete lipid profile in cell, tissue, organism. It is a branch of metabolmics.  Lipids may be broadly defined as hydrophobic or amphipathic small molecules. Lipidomics is a rapidly developing field of study that focuses on the identification and quantitation of various lipid species in the lipidome. Lipidomics has now emerged in the forefront of scientific research due to the importance of lipids in metabolism, cancer, and disease. 

Lipidomics is an emerging field of biomedical research which includes complex lipidome analysis. Basically, a lipidome is the comprehensive and quantitative description of a set of lipid species present in an organism. Lipidomics involves systems-level identification and quantitation of thousands of pathways and networks of cellular lipids molecular species and their interactions with other lipids, proteins and other moieties in vivo.

Lipidomics itself is a subgroup within the field of metabolomics. Furthermore, lipidomics can be subdivided into:

Membrane-lipidomics: Includes the comprehensive and quantitative description of membrane lipid constituents.

Mediator-lipidomics: Includes the structural characterization and quantification of low abundant bioactive lipid species.

Lipids are hydrophobic or amphipathic small molecules which include fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides and phospholipids. The crucial role of lipids in a cell, tissue and organ physiology is evident by their unique membrane organizing properties that provide cells with functionally distinct subcellular membrane compartments.

The main biological functions of lipids include:

Energy storage and structural components of cellular membranes.

Cell signaling (e.g. phospholipase C and phospholipase A2 in modulating immunological responses).

Endocrine actions (e.g. steroid hormones)

Essential role in signal transduction, membrane trafficking and morphogenesis.

Last Updated on: May 20, 2024