2. Academic Validation
  3. Dysregulation of acyl carnitines, pentose phosphate pathway and arginine and ornithine metabolism are associated with decline in intrinsic capacity in Chinese older adults

Dysregulation of acyl carnitines, pentose phosphate pathway and arginine and ornithine metabolism are associated with decline in intrinsic capacity in Chinese older adults

  • Aging Clin Exp Res. 2024 Feb 12;36(1):36. doi: 10.1007/s40520-023-02654-x.
Yiming Pan 1 2,  Yun Li 3 4,  Jagadish K Chhetri 1 5 2,  Pan Liu 1 2,  Bowen Li 6,  Zuyun Liu 7,  Guanghou Shui 8,  Lina Ma 9 10
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Geriatrics, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Research Center for Geriatric Medicine, 45 Changchun Street, Beijing, 100053, China.
  • 2 National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
  • 3 Department of Geriatrics, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Research Center for Geriatric Medicine, 45 Changchun Street, Beijing, 100053, China. [email protected].
  • 4 National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China. [email protected].
  • 5 Department of Neurology and Neurobiology, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
  • 6 LipidALL Technologies Company Limited, Changzhou, 213022, Jiangsu, China.
  • 7 Center for Clinical Big Data and Analytics, Second Affiliated Hospital and Department of Big Data in Health Science, School of Public Health, The Key Laboratory of Intelligent Preventive Medicine of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, 310058, Zhejiang, China.
  • 8 State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
  • 9 Department of Geriatrics, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Research Center for Geriatric Medicine, 45 Changchun Street, Beijing, 100053, China. [email protected].
  • 10 National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China. [email protected].
PMID: 38345670 DOI: 10.1007/s40520-023-02654-x
Abstract

Background: Intrinsic capacity is the combination of individual physical and mental abilities, reflecting the aging degree of the older adults. However, the mechanisms and metabolic characteristics of the decline in intrinsic capacity are still unclear.

Aims: To identify metabolic signatures and associated pathways of decline in intrinsic capacity based on the metabolite features.

Methods: We recruited 70 participants aged 77.19 ± 8.31 years. The five domains of intrinsic capacity were assessed by Short Physical Performance Battery (for mobility), Montreal cognition assessment (for cognition), 30-Item Geriatric Depression Scale (for psychology), self-reported hearing/visual impairment (for sensory) and Nutritional risk screening (for vitality), respectively. The serum samples of participants were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolomics, followed by metabolite set enrichment analysis and metabolic pathway analysis.

Results: There were 50 participants with a decline in intrinsic capacity in at least one of the domains. A total of 349 metabolites were identified from their serum samples. Overall, 24 differential metabolites, 5 metabolite sets and 13 pathways were associated with the decline in intrinsic capacity.

Discussion: Our results indicated that decline in intrinsic capacity had unique metabolomic profiles.

Conclusion: The specific change of acyl carnitines was observed to be a feature of decline in intrinsic capacity. Dysregulation of the pentose phosphate pathway and of arginine and ornithine metabolism was strongly associated with the decline in intrinsic capacity.

Keywords

Aging; Functional decline; Intrinsic capacity; Metabolomics.

Figures
Products