Figure 8.

Nitro/oxidative state in aged and centenarians (box (A)) and proposed preferential pathways determining sphingolipids fate in aged subjects (B) and centenarians (C). Light blue boxes indicate lipids; white boxes indicate enzymes involved in the pathway, while unboxed acronyms indicate gene names. Gene names are highlighted in red when their mRNA expression in PBMC is higher in the AG vs. C comparison (box (B)) or in the C vs. AG comparison (box (C)). Aged subjects seem to be prone to increase ceramide levels through de novo biosynthesis (purple arrow), while centenarians convert sphingomyelin-derived ceramide into complex glyco/sphingolipids (yellow arrow).