Melatonin affects macrophage immunosenescence and inhibits colitis in mice

This dataset contains single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data generated from mouse colonic tissues to investigate the regulatory effects of melatonin on macrophage senescence and intestinal inflammation in experimental colitis. Colonic tissues were collected from three experimental groups: healthy control (CON), dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis (DSS), and DSS-induced colitis treated with melatonin (DSS+MT). Single-cell transcriptomic profiling was performed using the Singleron GEXSCOPE platform to characterize intestinal cellular heterogeneity and identify immune cell populations associated with colitis progression and melatonin-mediated protection. The analysis focused on intestinal macrophages, particularly a Plk2⁺ macrophage subpopulation exhibiting senescence-associated transcriptional signatures and enhanced HIF-1α signaling and glycolytic metabolic programs. Melatonin treatment was associated with reduced inflammatory macrophage accumulation and attenuation of senescence-related and metabolic transcriptional programs. The dataset includes gene expression count matrices, cell barcodes, sample information, experimental group annotations, and associated single-cell analysis data in H5AD format. These data provide a resource for investigating intestinal macrophage heterogeneity, cellular senescence, immunometabolic reprogramming, and the protective effects of melatonin in inflammatory bowel disease. This dataset supports the study entitled "Melatonin suppresses aldose reductase-dependent polyol metabolism to restrain macrophage senescence in colitis."