Metabolites

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Luke Whiley

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Health Futures Institute and the Australian National Phenome Centre, Murdoch University, Perth, WA 6150, Australia
Interests: metabolic phenotyping; metabolomics; metabonomics; mass spectrometry; chromatography; HPLC; metabolism; ageing; dementia; neurodegeneration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cognitive assessment in clinical research is typically performed using a battery of standardised questionnaires and tools which require subjective interpretation. However, such cognitive scoring systems have shortcomings including subjective decision making and unconscious bias by the assessing clinician and a trained learning effect in study participants when exposed to repeat cognitive assessments. Therefore, identification of reliable biomarkers that associate with cognition and cognitive decline would be valuable in clinical research scenarios as they would provide an objective measure, improving the accuracy of cognitive assessment and removing the subjective nature of such assessments. Furthermore, the discovery of such biomarkers may identify novel metabolic pathways that are important in cognitive health and has the potential to open novel avenues for therapeutic intervention.

Metabolic phenotyping is a platform that is ideally suited for such discovery research. The technique involves the measurement of metabolite profiles in biofluids and tissues. Individual metabolic phenotypes are influenced by many factors, including a person’s genetics, environment, and lifestyle, creating rich datasets for biomarker discovery.

This Special Issue aims to gather a collection of publications on the implementation of metabolic phenotyping in the discovery of biomarkers of cognition as well as research into cognition and cognitive decline using the platform.

Dr. Luke Whiley
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Metabolites is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

biomarkers
cognitive
metabolic pathways
biofluids
tissues

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

11 pages, 2347 KiB

Open AccessArticle

High Correlation among Brain-Derived Major Protein Levels in Cerebrospinal Fluid: Implication for Amyloid-Beta and Tau Protein Changes in Alzheimer’s Disease

by Kyoka Hoshi, Mayumi Kanno, Mitsunari Abe, Takenobu Murakami, Yoshikazu Ugawa, Aya Goto, Takashi Honda, Takashi Saito, Takaomi C. Saido, Yoshiki Yamaguchi, Masakazu Miyajima, Katsutoshi Furukawa, Hiroyuki Arai and Yasuhiro Hashimoto

Metabolites 2022, 12(4), 355; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo12040355 - 15 Apr 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2463 | Correction

Abstract

The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) plays an important role in homeostasis of the brain. We previously demonstrated that major CSF proteins such as lipocalin-type prostaglandin D2 synthase (L-PGDS) and transferrin (Tf) that are biosynthesized in the brain could be biomarkers of altered CSF production. Here we report that the levels of these brain-derived CSF proteins correlated well with each other across various neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In addition, protein levels tended to be increased in the CSF samples of AD patients compared with the other diseases. Patients at memory clinics were classified into three categories, consisting of AD (n = 61), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n = 42), and cognitively normal (CN) (n = 23), with MMSE scores of 20.4 ± 4.2, 26.9 ± 1.7, and 29.0 ± 1.6, respectively. In each category, CSF protein levels were highly correlated with each other. In CN subjects, increased CSF protein levels correlated well with those of AD markers, including amyloid-β and tau protein, whereas in MCI and AD subjects, correlations declined with AD markers except p-tau. Future follow-up on each clinical subject may provide a clue that the CSF proteins would be AD-related biomarkers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metabolite Profiles Analysis to Elucidate Candidate Biomarkers that Associate with Cognition)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

35 pages, 1031 KiB

Open AccessReview

Associations of the Lipidome with Ageing, Cognitive Decline and Exercise Behaviours

by Maria Kadyrov, Luke Whiley, Belinda Brown, Kirk I. Erickson and Elaine Holmes

Metabolites 2022, 12(9), 822; https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo12090822 - 31 Aug 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2529

Abstract

One of the most recognisable features of ageing is a decline in brain health and cognitive dysfunction, which is associated with perturbations to regular lipid homeostasis. Although ageing is the largest risk factor for several neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, a loss in cognitive function is commonly observed in adults over the age of 65. Despite the prevalence of normal age-related cognitive decline, there is a lack of effective methods to improve the health of the ageing brain. In light of this, exercise has shown promise for positively influencing neurocognitive health and associated lipid profiles. This review summarises age-related changes in several lipid classes that are found in the brain, including fatty acyls, glycerolipids, phospholipids, sphingolipids and sterols, and explores the consequences of age-associated pathological cognitive decline on these lipid classes. Evidence of the positive effects of exercise on the affected lipid profiles are also discussed to highlight the potential for exercise to be used therapeutically to mitigate age-related changes to lipid metabolism and prevent cognitive decline in later life. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Metabolite Profiles Analysis to Elucidate Candidate Biomarkers that Associate with Cognition)

► Show Figures