Comprehensive Proteomic Atlas of Aging in Mice

Preventing age-related illnesses has become a major concern as the global population ages at a never-before-seen rate. The changes that aging brings about at the molecular level in the body must be thoroughly and quantitatively assessed. By doing this, it might be feasible to decrease age-related disorders and identify particular aging factors.

To solve this issue, earlier studies that measured the amount of mRNA produced in living cells created an atlas of aging-related alterations in major tissues. An atlas of aging-related protein alterations has not been created, though.

A group at Osaka Metropolitan University's Graduate School of Medicine, directed by Professor Naoko Ohtani and Lecturer Masaki Takasugi, created the Mouse Aging Proteomic Atlas, a very extensive database, to close this research gap.

They accomplished this by examining the extracellular matrix-enriched fractions of key tissues as well as the proteomes and transcriptomes of the brain, artery, heart, kidney, liver, lungs, skeletal muscle, and skin tissues of mice aged six, fifteen, twenty-four, and thirty months.

As a result, proteins in the extracellular matrix that increased with age were discovered, and the properties of protein groups impacted by aging in important tissues could be examined.

By clarifying the changes in various tissues due to aging in detail with regard to the number of proteins that are directly linked to gene function, we have dramatically improved our understanding of the overall changes on the molecular level. The results of this research are expected to contribute to a better understanding of the changes that occur with age.”

Naoko Ohtani, Professor, Osaka Metropolitan University

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.