Microgravity may profoundly impact the cardiovascular system, skeletal muscle system, and immune system of astronauts. At the cellular level, microgravity may also affect cell proliferation, differentiation, and growth, as well as lipid metabolism. In this work, we investigated lipid changes in Caco-2 cells cultured in a clinostat for 24 h under simulated microgravity conditions (SMC). Complex lipids were measured using a UHPLC-QTOF/MS platform, and the data were subjected to multivariate analysis. Under SMC, levels of ceramides Cer 18:0;O2/16:0, Cer 18:1;O2/16:0, Cer 18:1; O2/22:0, Cer 18:1;O2/24:0, and Cer 18:2;O2/24:0 were found to be upregulated, while sphingomyelins SM 16:1;O2/16:0, SM 16:1;O2/18:1, SM 18:1;O2/24:0, and SM 18:2;O2/24:0 were found to be downregulated. On the other hand, considering that sphingolipids are involved in the process of inflammation, we also treated Caco-2 cells with dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) to induce cell inflammation and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce cell immune responses. As a result, we observed similar lipid dysregulation, indicating that SMC may exert a condition similar to inflammation. Our lipidomics strategy provides new insights into the altered metabolic pathway of ceramides and sphingomyelins of Caco-2 cells under SMC.
Keywords: ceramide signaling; spaceflights; sphingolipids; sphingomyelins.