Late-Life Short-Term Dietary Restriction Improves Intestinal Stem Cell Function-Transcriptome data

Two- and twenty-one-month-old male C57BL/6 mice, fed on NIH-31, an open-source, unpurified, natural ingredient diet, were subjected to ad libitum feeding or DR (40% DR for 4-mo) with 6 mice/age/treatment. Effects of age and short-term DR (stDR) on Lgr5 Intestinal stem cell's function was evaluated using in vitro enteroid-forming assay followed by RNA-seq analysis and oxidative whole-genome bisulfite sequencing for DNA methylation. Our study shows for the first time that late life stDR can improve the function of Lgr5 ISCs from old mice. These data suggest that late-life nutritional strategies might be effective in improving gut function that declines with age and reduce the risk of age-related intestinal disorders. Our study also provides the first data showing that DNA methylation may play a role in the ability of DR to improve ISC function.