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2018 Agenda and Abstracts | < Previous Next >

2018 OMIG Abstract

Associations Between Meibum Quality and Sphingolipid Quantity and Composition

Vikram Paranjpe BS1,2, Nawajes Mandal PhD3, Jeremy Tan, MD4, Jason Ngyuen MD5,
John Lee BS1,2, Anat Galor MD, MSPH1,2
1Miami Veterans Administration Medical Center, Miami, FL, 2Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, Miami, FL, 3Departments of Ophthalmology, Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Hamilton Eye Institute, Memphis, TN, 4Ophthalmic Surgeons and Consultants of Ohio, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 5West Virginia University Eye, Morgantown, WV

 

Purpose: Sphingolipids are important cellular lipids with roles in cell signaling and are significantlyassociated with many inflammatory and degenerative diseases. The association of sphingolipid composition in human meibum with clinical markers of dry eye has not been studied. We analyzed sphingolipid quantity and composition in human subjects to determine associations with clinically graded meibum quality.

Methods: Forty-three subjects underwent a tear film assessment which included clinical grading of meibum quality. Meibum was collected via cotton swab and analyzed with liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) for quantitative estimation of various sphingolipid classes and species. Concentration (pmol) of total sphingolipid (SPL), Ceramide (Cer), Hexosyl-Ceramide (Hex-Cer), Sphingomyelin (SM), Sphingosine (Sph) and Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) was calculated. Composition of SPL was assessed via mole percent of major classes, Cer, Hex-Cer, SM, Sph and S1P. Associations between SPL composition and meibum quality were assessed via Mann-Whitney U and independent samples T-tests, as appropriate.

Results: 22subjects were characterized as having good quality meibum and 21 were characterizedas having poor quality meibum. Overall, we found that subjects with poor quality had a lower levels (pmol) of SPL (148.7 vs 234.8, p>0.05), Cer (7.0 vs 83.2, p=0.02), Hex-Cer (7.0 vs 24.4, p=0.03), Sph (2.2 vs 6.0, p>0.05), and S1P (0.15 vs 1.0, p=0.04), and higher levels (pmol) of SM (125.6 vs 66.9, p>0.05). Analysis of mole percent revealed that subjects with poor quality had less Cer (5.7% vs 31.9%, p<0.0005), less Hex-Cer (5.7% vs 10.0%, p=0.01) and more SM (88.6% vs 53.1%, p=0.001).

Conclusion: Our results indicate that poor meibum quality is significantly associated with compositional changes in meibum.

Disclosure: S

Support: Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Clinical Sciences Research EPID-006-15S (Dr. Galor), R01EY026174 (Dr. Galor), R01EY022071 (Dr. Mandal), R21EY025256 (Dr. Mandal), RPB International Collaborators Award (Dr. Mandal), NIH Center Core Grant P30EY014801, P30EY021725 and Research to Prevent Blindness Unrestricted Grant.

 

2018 Agenda and Abstracts | < Previous Next >

 

 

 

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