Age-related transcriptional profiling of phagocytic cells isolated from murine epididymal white adipose tissue

Age-related changes in macrophages are thought to underlie deleterious changes in adipose tissue during aging. RNAseq analysis of phagocyte-enriched and -depleted stromal vascular fractions of perigonadal white adipose tissue from young and aged mice revealed age-related differences in gene expression towards identification of adipose tissue macrophage-specific regulation. The stromal vascular fractions (SVF) of pooled epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) were isolated from young (10-week old; n=12) and old (80-week old; n=6) C57BL/6 mice and incubated with a suspension of superparamagnetic nanoparticles (~150-nm EasySep™ Magnetic Particles; StemCell Technologies). Subsequently, cells that phagocytized these particles were separated from non-phagocytic cells by performing magnetic-activated cell isolation, yielding macropahge-enriched phagocytic fraction and resultant phagocyte-depleted sub-populations. These fractions were used for RNAseq analysis.