Transcriptome Profiling of Heart Ageing Reveals Distinct Pathological Gene Network

Age-related changes in cardiac homeostasis lead to myocardial dysfunction and cardiovascular diseases, which predict the healthspan of ageing. Age is a prominent risk factor for cardiac-related diseases. During ageing, the heart undergoes structural remodeling (increased cardiac weight and myocardial fibrosis) and functional decline (reduced diastolic and systolic functions), causing vulnerability of the heart to extra stress. Consequently, these pathological changes lead to increased cardiovascular mortality and morbidity in elderly adults. The underlying mechanism of cardiac ageing remains largely unexplored; and no pharmacological agent is currently available to improve or delay cardiac senescence. Male mice of ages 2-months and 22-months old were raised in a stable environment (room temperature, 24 3 C; room humidity, 55 5%) with a 12-h light/12-h dark cycle, and were fed normal chow. The mice were anaesthetized with inhalational anaesthetic and euthanized by cervical dislocation. Hearts were immediately dissected and stored at -80C. Three independent biological replicate samples from Young or Old group were used for RNA extraction. RNA-seq was completed by Novogene. Please note that raw data has been lost and thus is not provided.心脏稳态随年龄发生的改变会引发心肌功能障碍与心血管疾病，而此类改变可用于预测衰老个体的健康寿命。年龄是心脏相关疾病的重要风险因素。衰老过程中，心脏会出现结构重塑（心脏重量增加、心肌纤维化）与功能衰退（舒张与收缩功能下降），使心脏更易受到额外应激的损伤。因此，这些病理改变会导致老年人群的心血管疾病死亡率与发病率升高。目前心脏衰老的潜在机制仍未得到充分阐明，且尚无可用的药理学手段改善或延缓心脏衰老。选取2月龄与22月龄的雄性小鼠，在稳定环境中饲养：环境温度为24±3℃，相对湿度为55±5%，光照周期为12小时光照/12小时黑暗，且饲喂常规维持饲料。小鼠经吸入式麻醉后，通过颈椎脱臼法实施安乐死。立即取出心脏并保存于-80℃环境中。分别从青年组与老年组中各选取3份独立生物学重复样本用于RNA提取，RNA测序（RNA-seq）由诺禾致源（Novogene）完成。请注意，原始数据已丢失，故不予提供。