The influence of sex and age on the lens injury response

The purpose of this study was to investigate/characterize age- and sex-dependent changes in transcriptomic profile in a mouse model of cataract surgery that mimics human cataract surgery. This surgery involves the removal of lens fiber cells (LFC) leaving behind the lens capsule and associated lens epithelial cells (LEC). The lens capsule and associated remnant LECs were harvested either following cataract surgery (0 hour) or 24 hours later. Fiber cells were collected at the time of surgery, equivalent to 0 hour, and analyzed separately from epithelial cells. For samples from LEC, each biological replicate is a pool of 5 lens capsules from 5 independent mice. For samples from LFC, each biological replicate is a pool of 2 fiber cell masses from two independent mice. Mice were either 24 months old (Aged), or 3 months old (Young). A total of 24 biological replicates were sequenced, with 2 male and 2 female biological replicates per experimental condition.