Regulation of brain aging by neutral sphingomyelinase 2

Purpose: The goals of this study are to compare next generation sequencing-derived brain cortex transcriptome profiling (RNA-seq) to study the role of neutral sphingomyelinase 2 (smpd3) in brain aging. Methods: Brain cortex mRNA profiles of 10 month old (fro/+) and smpd3 total knockout (fro/fro) mice were generated by deep sequencing, in duplicate, using Illumina NovaSeq 6000. (https://en.novogene.com) Results:A total of 1462 transcripts differed between genotypes, with 891 transcripts increased and 571 transcripts decreased. Conclusions: Transcriptome differences link decreased oxidative stress and astrocyte activation in brain cortex to nSMase2 deficiency, while synaptic signaling transcripts increased in ways consistent with increased cognitive function previously demonstrated in nSMase2-deficient mice. Brain cortex mRNA profiles of 10 months old smpd3 heterozygous (fro/+) and total knockout (fro/fro) mice