Cited by 85Muscle Physiology and DisordersNutrition and Health in AgingGenetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms

Molecular and phenotypic analysis of rodent models reveals conserved and species-specific modulators of human sarcopenia

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Börsch, Anastasiya, Ham, Daniel J., Mittal, Nitish, Tintignac, Lionel A., Migliavacca, Eugenia, Feige, Jérôme N., Rüegg, Markus A., Zavolan, Mihaela·2021·Communications Biology

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.

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  • Time series RNA sequencing in skeletal muscle of mice and rats analyzed alongside human skeletal muscle from individuals aged 22-70 years evidenced that cellular senescence was one of the pathways with increasing gene expression during aging in all three species.

    “time series RNA sequencing in the skeletal muscle of mice and rats analyzed alongside an RNA sequencing data set of human skeletal muscle from individuals aged 22–70 years evidenced that cellular senescence was one of the pathways with increasing gene expression during aging in all the three species”

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [27]Ham DJ The neuromuscular junction is a focal point of mTORC1 signaling in sarcopenia Nat. Commun. 2020 11 1 21 10.1038/s41467-020-18140-1 32908143 PMC7481251 · DOI
  2. [40]Mashinchian, O. et al. In-vivo transcriptomic profiling of systemic aging using cell encapsulation. 10.1101/2020.03.09.979054. PMC8926399 35245177 · DOI

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Authors
Börsch, A., Ham, D. J., Mittal, N., Tintignac, L. A., Migliavacca, E., Feige, J. N., Rüegg, M. A., & Zavolan, M.
Affiliations
  • SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (CH)
  • University of Basel (CH)
  • École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
Corresponding author
Zavolan, Mihaela
Venue
Communications Biology
Published
2021-02-12
Volume
4
Issue
1
Pages
194-194
ISSN
2399-3642 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3126225491
Cited by
85
References
93
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 9
FWCI
4.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Communications Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • edoc (University of Basel) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Novartis Stiftung für Medizinisch-Biologische Forschung (3BZ8003)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Muscle Physiology and Disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Nutrition and Health in Aging
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
Keywords
sarcopenia, skeletal muscle aging, rodent models, gastrocnemius, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, extracellular matrix, RNA processing, autophagy, transcriptome changes, muscle mass, species differences, aging biomarkers, transcription factors
MeSH terms
Age Factors, Aging, Animals, Body Composition, Disease Models, Animal, Gene Expression Regulation, Humans, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Phenotype, Species Specificity, Signal Transduction, Disease Progression, Muscle, Skeletal, Mice, Rats, Sarcopenia, Transcriptome

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