Study Aging by Fibroblasts Metabolome

Abstract

Aging is a complex multifactorial process that, although universal, is not fully understood. It is known that the impact of aging on health is influenced by multiple factors, such as sex, race, income, and education, and that age-related diseases are strongly associated with the way people get old. The knowledge of biological aging and its comparison to the chronological age is a paramount contributor to predict the metabolic decline and the onset of age-related diseases. As aging processes observed in the whole human organism are somehow the reflection of what happens in each cell type, it is possible to study the aging process using cell lines, such as fibroblasts. Metabolomics analysis of cell lines, namely fibroblasts, gives inputs to personalized or integrative medicine; in fact, cell metabolomics is an emerging field that addresses fundamental biological and metabolic questions using modern "omic" techniques as FTIR, NMR or MS. This paper revises the relevance of using fibroblasts as cell models to study the metabolome of aging.