Data Entry: Please note that the research database will be replaced by UNIverse by the end of October 2023. Please enter your data into the system https://universe-intern.unibas.ch. Thanks
Molecular and phenotypic analysis of rodent models reveals conserved and species-specific modulators of human sarcopenia
Journal
Communications Biology
Volume
4
Number
1
Pages / Article-Number
194
Mesh terms
Age Factors; Aging, pathology; Animals; Body Composition; Disease Models, Animal; Disease Progression; Gene Expression Regulation; Humans; Male; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Muscle, Skeletal, physiopathology; Phenotype; Rats; Sarcopenia, physiopathology; Signal Transduction; Species Specificity; Transcriptome
Abstract
Sarcopenia, the age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and function, affects 5-13% of individuals aged over 60 years. While rodents are widely-used model organisms, which aspects of sarcopenia are recapitulated in different animal models is unknown. Here we generated a time series of phenotypic measurements and RNA sequencing data in mouse gastrocnemius muscle and analyzed them alongside analogous data from rats and humans. We found that rodents recapitulate mitochondrial changes observed in human sarcopenia, while inflammatory responses are conserved at pathway but not gene level. Perturbations in the extracellular matrix are shared by rats, while mice recapitulate changes in RNA processing and autophagy. We inferred transcription regulators of early and late transcriptome changes, which could be targeted therapeutically. Our study demonstrates that phenotypic measurements, such as muscle mass, are better indicators of muscle health than chronological age and should be considered when analyzing aging-related molecular data.
