Male rat leukocyte population dynamics predict a window for intervention in aging
- National Institute on Aging, United States
Abstract
Many age-associated changes in the human hematopoietic system have been reproduced in murine models; however, such changes have not been as robustly explored in rats despite the fact these larger rodents are more physiologically similar to humans. We examined peripheral blood of male F344 rats ranging from three to twenty-seven months of age and found significant age-associated changes with distinct leukocyte population shifts. We report CD25+ CD4+ population frequency is a strong predictor of healthy aging, generate a model using blood parameters, and find rats with blood profiles that diverge from chronologic age indicate debility; thus, assessments of blood composition may be useful for non-lethal disease profiling or as a surrogate measure for efficacy of aging interventions. Importantly, blood parameters and DNA methylation alterations, defined distinct juncture points during aging, supporting a non-linear aging process. Our results suggest these inflection points are important considerations for aging interventions. Overall, we present rat blood aging metrics that can serve as a resource to evaluate health and the effects of interventions in a model system physiologically more reflective of humans.
Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available in the Supplementary Material and Supplementary Tables of this article. The DNA methylation raw data is available via GEO Accession (GSE161141). FCS files have been uploaded to FlowRepository (FR-FCM-Z59K)
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institutes of Health (Intramural NIA)
- Isabel Beerman
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All experimental procedures were conducted in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and approved by the NIA Animal Care and Use Committee (ASP 467-CMS-2018 and 469-TGB-2022)
Reviewing Editor
- Bérénice A Benayoun, University of Southern California, United States
Publication history
- Received: January 5, 2022
- Accepted: May 3, 2022
- Accepted Manuscript published: May 4, 2022 (version 1)
Copyright
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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