Sarkar Sutanu, Ghosh Rajgourab
Amity Institute of Biotechnology (AIBNK), Amity University, Kolkata 700135, India.
BBA Adv. 2025 Jun 27;8:100169. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadva.2025.100169. eCollection 2025.
Recent advancements in single-cell analysis have revolutionized our understanding of cellular heterogeneity, particularly in lipid metabolism. Single-cell lipidomics, enabled by ultra-sensitive mass spectrometry techniques such as Orbitrap and Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR), provides unprecedented insights into lipid-mediated cellular functions. Unlike bulk analyses, single-cell approaches capture real-time metabolic changes, highlighting lipid species' roles in cell differentiation, signal transduction, and disease progression. Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI), including MALDI-MSI and SIMS, further delineates lipid distributions within tissues, revealing spatial heterogeneity critical to cellular function. Emerging evidence suggests that lipid alterations significantly impact developmental mechanisms, stem cell niches, and disease pathogenesis, challenging conventional bulk-level assumptions. However, a key challenge remains in deciphering how lipid networks coordinate cellular differentiation and transcriptional regulation. Future research must integrate lipidomic, proteomic, and genomic data to unravel lipid-mediated signaling and epigenetic modifications. Understanding these dynamics will advance regenerative medicine and therapeutic interventions, enabling precise targeting of lipid-driven pathways in disease contexts.
单细胞分析的最新进展彻底改变了我们对细胞异质性的理解,尤其是在脂质代谢方面。通过诸如轨道阱和傅里叶变换离子回旋共振(FT-ICR)等超灵敏质谱技术实现的单细胞脂质组学,为脂质介导的细胞功能提供了前所未有的见解。与整体分析不同,单细胞方法能够捕捉实时代谢变化,突出了脂质种类在细胞分化、信号转导和疾病进展中的作用。质谱成像(MSI),包括基质辅助激光解吸电离质谱成像(MALDI-MSI)和二次离子质谱(SIMS),进一步描绘了组织内的脂质分布,揭示了对细胞功能至关重要的空间异质性。新出现的证据表明,脂质改变对发育机制、干细胞微环境和疾病发病机制有显著影响,这对传统的整体水平假设提出了挑战。然而,在解读脂质网络如何协调细胞分化和转录调控方面,一个关键挑战仍然存在。未来的研究必须整合脂质组学、蛋白质组学和基因组数据,以揭示脂质介导的信号传导和表观遗传修饰。理解这些动态变化将推动再生医学和治疗干预的发展,使我们能够在疾病背景下精确靶向脂质驱动的途径。