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Published on: May 28, 2011
Caloric Restriction Reprograms the Single-Cell Transcriptional Landscape of Rattus Norvegicus Aging
Shuai Ma1, Shuhui Sun2, Lingling Geng3
1State Key Laboratory of Membrane Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules, CAS Center for Excellence in Biomacromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Abstract:
Aging causes a functional decline in tissues throughout the body that may be delayed by caloric restriction (CR). However, the cellular profiles and signatures of aging, as well as those ameliorated by CR, remain unclear. Here, we built comprehensive single-cell and single-nucleus transcriptomic atlases across various rat tissues undergoing aging and CR. CR attenuated aging-related changes in cell type composition, gene expression, and core transcriptional regulatory networks. Immune cells were increased during aging, and CR favorably reversed the aging-disturbed immune ecosystem. Computational prediction revealed that the abnormal cell-cell communication patterns observed during aging, including the excessive proinflammatory ligand-receptor interplay, were reversed by CR. Our work provides multi-tissue single-cell transcriptional landscapes associated with aging and CR in a mammal, enhances our understanding of the robustness of CR as a geroprotective intervention, and uncovers how metabolic intervention can act upon the immune system to modify the process of aging.
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