Single-nuclei profiling of aged skeletal muscle

Aging is accompanied by a loss of muscle mass and function, termed sarcopenia, causing numerous morbidities and economic burdens in human populations. Mechanisms implicated in age-related sarcopenia include inflammation, muscle stem cell depletion, mitochondrial dysfunction and loss of motor neurons, but whether there are key drivers of sarcopenia is not yet known. To gain deeper insights into age-related sarcopenia, we performed transcriptome profiling on lower limb muscle biopsies from 72 young, old and sarcopenic subjects using bulk RNA-seq (N = 72) and single-nuclei RNA-seq (N = 17). Using this combined approach, we discovered novel changes in gene expression that occur with age and sarcopenia in multiple cell types comprising mature skeletal muscle. Notably, we found increased expression of the genes MYH8 and PDK4, and decreased expression of the gene IGFN1, in old muscle. We also identified a small population of nuclei that express CDKN1A, present only in aged samples, consistent with P21CIP1 senescence in this subpopulation. Our findings identify unique cellular sub-populations populations in aged and sarcopenic skeletal muscle, which will facilitate the development of new therapeutic strategies to combat age-related sarcopenia. Overall design: We performed transcriptome profiling on lower limb muscle biopsies from 72 young, old and sarcopenic subjects using bulk RNA-seq (N = 72) and single-nuclei RNA-seq (N = 17).

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