Understanding the Effects of Plasmalogen Modulation on the Systemic Lipidome

Plasmalogens are a unique class of lipids that are abundant in certain tissues such as the heart, brain and specific immune cell types. Studies have demonstrated that plasmalogens are dysregulated in settings of metabolic, cardiovascular, liver, and neurodegenerative diseases. Plasmalogen presents as an attractive therapeutic target as they can be easily modulated through dietary supplementation of their precursors commonly known as alkylglycerols (AKGs). While the use of AKGs has demonstrated beneficial outcomes in multiple disease models, in depth assessment on the modulatory effects on plasmalogen species in specific tissues are still unknown. In addition, current doses of AKGs used in preclinical models are not viable for translation to patient populations. As such, this study aims to comprehensively profile the change to the lipidome of specific tissues following 1. long term AKG supplementation, and 2. long term supplementation using alternative precursor compounds with higher bioavailability than AKG, in a mouse model. Key skillsets that could be obtained through this project include animal handling, exposure to molecular biology techniques such as lipid/DNA/RNA extractions, qPCR, lipidomics, and analyses of lipidomic datasets.