Extracellular vesicle-associated lipids in central nervous system disorders

Increasing evidence indicates that lipid metabolism is disturbed in central nervous system (CNS) disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes and microvesicles, are nanosized particles that play an essential role in intercellular communication and tissue homeostasis by transporting diverse biologically active molecules, including a large variety of lipid species. In the last decade, studies defined that changes in the EV lipidome closely correlate with disease-progression and -remission in CNS disorders. In this review, we summarize and discuss these changes in the EV lipidome and elaborate on the impact of different EV-associated lipids on pathological processes in CNS disorders. We conclude that EV-associated lipids are closely associated with neuroinflammation, CNS repair, and pathological protein aggregation in CNS disorders, and that modulation of the EV lipidome represents a promising therapeutic strategy to halt disease progression in multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease. Moreover, we predict that disease-stage specific EV-associated lipid signatures can be invaluable markers for the diagnosis and early detection of CNS disorders in the future.