Targeted Lipid Profiling Discovers Plasma Biomarkers of Acute Brain Injury.

ABSTRACT: Prior efforts to identify a blood biomarker of brain injury have relied almost exclusively on proteins; however their low levels at early time points and poor correlation with injury severity have been limiting. Lipids, on the other hand, are the most abundant molecules in the brain and readily cross the blood-brain barrier. We previously showed that certain sphingolipid (SL) species are highly specific to the brain. Here we examined the feasibility of using SLs as biomarkers for acute brain injury. A rat model of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and a mouse model of stroke were used to identify candidate SL species though our mass-spectrometry based lipid profiling approach. Plasma samples collected after TBI in the rat showed large increases in many circulating SLs following injury, and larg

SUBMITTER: Sheth SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4468135 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature