Cross-Classification of Human Urinary Lipidome by Sex, Age, and Body Mass Index

Technological advancements in past decades have led to the development of integrative analytical approaches to lipidomics, such as liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS), and information about biogenic lipids is rapidly accumulating. Although several cohort-based studies have been conducted on the composition of urinary lipidome, the data on urinary lipids cross-classified by sex, age, and body mass index (BMI) are insufficient to screen for various abnormalities. To promote the development of urinary lipid metabolome-based diagnostic assay, we analyzed 60 urine samples from healthy white adults (young (c.a., 30 years) and old (c.a., 60 years) men/women) using LC/MS. Women had a higher urinary concentration of omega-3 12-lipoxygenase (LOX)-generated oxylipins with anti-inflammatory activity compared to men. In addition, young women showed increased abundance of poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and cytochrome P450 (P450)-produced oxylipins with anti-hypertensive activity compared with young men, whereas elderly women exhibited higher concentration of 5-LOX-generated anti-inflammatory oxylipins than elderly men. There were no significant differences in urinary oxylipin levels between young and old subjects or between subjects with low and high BMI. Our findings suggest that sex, but neither ages nor BMI could be a confounding factor for measuring the composition of urinary lipid metabolites in the healthy population. The information showed contribute to the development of reliable biomarker findings from urine.