Human skeletal muscle aging atlas

The Human skeletal muscle aging atlas maps cellular changes in human skeletal muscle during aging by integrating single-cell and single-nucleus sequencing data from young and old adults.

Key Features:

• Single-cell profiling: Profiles 90,902 single cells and 92,259 single nuclei from 17 donors to map the aging process in adult human intercostal muscle.
• Muscle stem cell analysis: Identifies distinct subsets of muscle stem cells exhibiting decreased ribosome biogenesis genes and increased CCL2 expression, causing different aging phenotypes.
• Neuromuscular junction mapping: Highlights an expansion of nuclei associated with the neuromuscular junction, which may reflect re-innervation.
• Myofiber type analysis: Outlines how loss of fast-twitch myofibers is mitigated through regeneration and upregulation of fast-type markers in slow-twitch myofibers with age.
• Microenvironment characterization: Documents the function of aging muscle microenvironment in immune cell attraction.
• Cross-species comparison: Includes an in-house mouse muscle atlas to study common features of muscle aging across species.

Scientific Applications:

• Muscle aging research: Provides a comprehensive resource for studying cellular and molecular mechanisms of human skeletal muscle aging.
• Sarcopenia and frailty investigation: Supports research into age-related muscle wasting and functional decline with implications for global health.
• Stem cell biology: Enables analysis of muscle stem cell heterogeneity and age-related changes in regenerative capacity.
• Neuromuscular biology: Facilitates study of neuromuscular junction plasticity and re-innervation processes during aging.
• Immunology: Supports investigation of immune cell recruitment and inflammation in the aging muscle microenvironment.
• Comparative biology: Allows cross-species analysis of muscle aging between human and mouse models.

Methodology:

Single-cell and single-nucleus sequencing of human intercostal muscle samples from young and old adult donors, integrated with an in-house mouse muscle atlas.