Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory and
neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system, and it is one of the most common neurological cause of disability in young adults. It is known that several factors contribute to increase the risk of development and pathogenesis of
multiple sclerosis, nonetheless, but the true etiology of this pathology remains unknown. Similar to other inflammatory diseases, oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation are also associated to
multiple sclerosis. Alterations in the
lipid profile seem to be a hallmark of this pathology which can contribute to the dysregulation of
lipid homeostasis and lipid metabolism in
multiple sclerosis. Lipidomic studies analysed in this review clearly demonstrate the role of
lipids in inflammatory processes, in immunity, and in the onset and development of
multiple sclerosis. Several investigations reported alterations of some molecular
lipid species, in particular, with decrease of
fatty acids (FA) 18:2 and 20:4 and total polyunsaturated FA, with compensatory increases of saturated FA with shorter
carbon chains. Oxidized
phospholipids were reported in few studies as well. Also, it was shown that clinical lipidomics has potential as a tool to aid both in
multiple sclerosis diagnosis and
therapeutics by allowing a detailed lipidome profiling of the patients suffering with this disease.