View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Loughborough University Institutional Repository Received: 6 May 2019 | Revised: 11 August 2019 | Accepted: 4 September 2019 DOI: 10.1111/acel.13048 REVIEW The role of lipid metabolism in aging, lifespan regulation, and age‐related disease Adiv A. Johnson1 | Alexandra Stolzing2,3 1Nikon Instruments, Melville, NY, USA Abstract 2BIOAGE Labs, Richmond, CA, USA 3Loughborough University, Loughborough, An emerging body of data suggests that lipid metabolism has an important role to UK play in the aging process. Indeed, a plethora of dietary, pharmacological, genetic, and Correspondence surgical lipid‐related interventions extend lifespan in nematodes, fruit flies, mice, and Adiv A. Johnson, Nikon Instruments, rats. For example, the impairment of genes involved in ceramide and sphingolipid Melville, NY, USA. Email:
[email protected] synthesis extends lifespan in both worms and flies. The overexpression of fatty acid amide hydrolase or lysosomal lipase prolongs life in Caenorhabditis elegans, while the overexpression of diacylglycerol lipase enhances longevity in both C. elegans and Drosophila melanogaster. The surgical removal of adipose tissue extends lifespan in rats, and increased expression of apolipoprotein D enhances survival in both flies and mice. Mouse lifespan can be additionally extended by the genetic deletion of diacyl‐ glycerol acyltransferase 1, treatment with the steroid 17‐α‐estradiol, or a ketogenic diet. Moreover, deletion of the phospholipase A2 receptor improves various health‐ span parameters in a progeria mouse model. Genome‐wide association studies have found several lipid‐related variants to be associated with human aging. For example, the epsilon 2 and epsilon 4 alleles of apolipoprotein E are associated with extreme longevity and late‐onset neurodegenerative disease, respectively.