pr9b00502_si_001.pdf (1.03 MB)
Sex- and Age-Related Metabolic Characteristics of Serum Free Fatty Acids in Healthy Chinese Adults
journal contribution
posted on 2020-03-09, 15:42 authored by Linjing Zhao, Fangjia Hao, Jiashuai Huang, Xiaohui Liu, Xiaojing Ma, Congrong Wang, Yuqian Bao, Lixin Wang, Weiping Jia, Aihua Zhao, Wei JiaFree fatty acids (FFAs), also named
nonesterified fatty acids,
largely originate from the lipolysis of triacylglycerol stored in
adipose tissue. Despite extensive research on sex- and age-dependent
effects on lipolysis and lipid mobilization of adipose tissue, the
primary differences in the metabolic characteristics of circulating
FFAs among normal-weight healthy men and women during aging are still
unclear. Here, we measured the concentrations of 45 FFAs in fasting
sera of two Chinese community-based studies consisting of 201 metabolically
healthy normal-weight adults to ascertain the associations of sex
and age with FFA compositions and their upstream and downstream relations.
Results showed greater conversions toward n-3 polyunsaturated fatty
acids of docosahexaenoic acid and n-6 of docosapentaenoic acid from
their precursors in women than in men. Meanwhile, there were significantly
positive correlations between the concentrations of a panel of saturated
fatty acids with straight chain or branched chain and age in women,
whereas no association was found in men. These findings highlight
that sex and age should be considered as the potential confounding
factors in assessing the risk for metabolic disturbance using FFA
biomarkers.