The field of oxylipin research has outpaced the development of standards and guidelines. As these signaling lipids gain attention in inflammation, metabolism, and tissue repair, the field must confront a central challenge: many proposed pro-resolving mediators are difficult to measure and interpret. A recent publication by Schebb and colleagues calls for stronger evidence, from analytical detection to endogenous function.

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Specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs) have been suggested to act as key factors that mediate the resolution of inflammation. With the availability of synthetic standards, pharmacological studies have garnered support for the hypothesis. However, assessment of the catalytic properties of lipoxygenases as well as investigations of the signalling of the proposed SPM receptors raise serious doubt that SPMs are endogenous mediators of the resolution of inflammation. In line with this, careful evaluation of published data on SPM detection revealed a lack of evidence for many reported SPMs in biological samples due to analytical LC-MS/MS methods that do not meet the quality standards of the scientific community, or they rely on ELISAs that lack selectivity and are not suited for the establishment of the presence of SPMs in complex biological samples. Furthermore, artefacts due to autoxidation of PUFAs can be misinterpreted as SPM formation. In this review, we critically assess the published reports on the biosynthesis and the analysis of SPMs and summarize the current status in the field.

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• https://www.jlr.org/article/S0022-2275(26)00163-X/fulltext

Plant lipid research has seen a tremendous progress in the last decades, particularly in the area of lipid analytics by mass spectrometry. This includes the characterization of the different lipid classes involved in the establishment of the membrane bilayer, in carbon storage, and signaling. Advances in mass spectrometry have transformed the landscape of plant lipid research, enabling large scale studies of complex lipids at the level of individual molecular species, with minimal efforts of sample preparation. Lipidomic technologies employ targeted approaches to analyze known lipid molecular species as well as non-targeted methods to identify lipids that accumulate differentially in specific sample sets. Lipid quantification requires the availability of appropriate standards and highly sensitive methods of mass spectrometry. Additional technologies have been developed to study the spatial distribution of lipids in plant tissues, as well as to identify and characterize unusual lipids in plant cells. Finally, the large amounts of data generated in plant lipid research require sophisticated databases that connect the ‘omics’ data with data on growth, development, and adaptive responses to stress conditions at the tissue, cellular, and subcellular levels.

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• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00425-026-04981-5

The rapid and continued development of mass spectrometry–based technologies has significantly increased the capability to study and characterize lipids while providing new insight into the complex roles of lipids throughout biology. These capabilities have included the ability to quantify, structurally characterize (including resolving isomers that pose significant challenges to lipidomics), and spatially map lipids within numerous complex organisms, revealing new capabilities in emerging areas such as single-cell analysis. With these rapid developments, several challenges have emerged, such as accurate lipid identification, incorrect and overinterpretation of mass spectrometry data and structural assignments, and the need for improved analytical and bioinformatics tools to understand lipidomics data at the pathway and systems levels. This review critically assesses analytical technologies used for lipidomics studies, along with current challenges and technological developments driving the field forward. By highlighting these challenges, and possible avenues to address them, this review emphasizes the excitement for the future of lipidomics and the need for continued development of analytical tools to enhance our understanding lipid biology.

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• https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anchem-071525-093318