Lieblein-Boff Jacqueline C, Johnson Elizabeth J, Kennedy Adam D, Lai Chron-Si, Kuchan Matthew J
Research and Development, Abbott Nutrition, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
Antioxidants Research Laboratory, Jean Mayer United States Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2015 Aug 28;10(8):e0136904. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136904. eCollection 2015.
Lutein is a dietary carotenoid well known for its role as an antioxidant in the macula, and recent reports implicate a role for lutein in cognitive function. Lutein is the dominant carotenoid in both pediatric and geriatric brain tissue. In addition, cognitive function in older adults correlated with macular and postmortem brain lutein concentrations. Furthermore, lutein was found to preferentially accumulate in the infant brain in comparison to other carotenoids that are predominant in diet. While lutein is consistently related to cognitive function, the mechanisms by which lutein may influence cognition are not clear. In an effort to identify potential mechanisms through which lutein might influence neurodevelopment, an exploratory study relating metabolite signatures and lutein was completed. Post-mortem metabolomic analyses were performed on human infant brain tissues in three regions important for learning and memory: the frontal cortex, hippocampus, and occipital cortex. Metabolomic profiles were compared to lutein concentration, and correlations were identified and reported here. A total of 1276 correlations were carried out across all brain regions. Of 427 metabolites analyzed, 257 were metabolites of known identity. Unidentified metabolite correlations (510) were excluded. In addition, moderate correlations with xenobiotic relationships (2) or those driven by single outliers (3) were excluded from further study. Lutein concentrations correlated with lipid pathway metabolites, energy pathway metabolites, brain osmolytes, amino acid neurotransmitters, and the antioxidant homocarnosine. These correlations were often brain region-specific. Revealing relationships between lutein and metabolic pathways may help identify potential candidates on which to complete further analyses and may shed light on important roles of lutein in the human brain during development.
叶黄素是一种膳食类胡萝卜素，因其在黄斑区作为抗氧化剂的作用而广为人知，最近的报告表明叶黄素在认知功能中也发挥作用。叶黄素是儿童和老年脑组织中主要的类胡萝卜素。此外，老年人的认知功能与黄斑区和死后脑组织中的叶黄素浓度相关。此外，与饮食中占主导地位的其他类胡萝卜素相比，叶黄素被发现优先在婴儿大脑中积累。虽然叶黄素一直与认知功能有关，但其影响认知的机制尚不清楚。为了确定叶黄素可能影响神经发育的潜在机制，完成了一项关于代谢物特征与叶黄素关系的探索性研究。对人类婴儿脑组织中对学习和记忆重要的三个区域：额叶皮质、海马体和枕叶皮质进行了死后代谢组学分析。将代谢组学谱与叶黄素浓度进行比较，确定并报告了相关性。在所有脑区共进行了1276次相关性分析。在分析的427种代谢物中，257种是已知身份的代谢物。未鉴定的代谢物相关性（510种）被排除。此外，与外源性物质关系的中度相关性（2种）或由单个异常值驱动的相关性（3种）被排除在进一步研究之外。叶黄素浓度与脂质途径代谢物、能量途径代谢物、脑渗透压物质、氨基酸神经递质和抗氧化剂同型肌肽相关。这些相关性通常具有脑区特异性。揭示叶黄素与代谢途径之间的关系可能有助于确定进一步分析的潜在候选物，并可能阐明叶黄素在人类大脑发育过程中的重要作用。
