Welle Stephen, Brooks Andrew I, Delehanty Joseph M, Needler Nancy, Bhatt Kirti, Shah Bharati, Thornton Charles A
Department of Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
Exp Gerontol. 2004 Mar;39(3):369-77. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2003.11.011.
Gene expression profiling may provide leads for investigations of the molecular basis of functional declines associated with aging. In this study, high-density oligonucleotide arrays were used to probe the patterns of gene expression in skeletal muscle of seven young women (20-29 years old) and eight healthy older women (65-71 years old). The older subjects had reduced muscle mass, strength, and peak oxygen consumption relative to young women. There were approximately 1000 probe sets that suggested differential gene expression in younger and older muscle according to statistical criteria. The most highly overexpressed genes (>3-fold) in older muscle were p21 (cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A), which might reflect increased DNA damage, perinatal myosin heavy chain, which might reflect increased muscle fiber regeneration, and tomoregulin, which does not have a defined function in muscle. More than 40 genes encoding proteins that bind to pre-mRNAs or mRNAs were expressed at higher levels in older muscle. More than 100 genes involved in energy metabolism were expressed at lower levels in older muscle. In general, these results support previous observations on the differences in gene expression profiles between younger and older men.
基因表达谱分析可为与衰老相关的功能衰退分子基础研究提供线索。在本研究中，高密度寡核苷酸阵列被用于探测7名年轻女性（20 - 29岁）和8名健康老年女性（65 - 71岁）骨骼肌中的基因表达模式。相对于年轻女性，老年受试者的肌肉质量、力量和最大耗氧量均有所下降。根据统计标准，约有1000个探针集显示年轻和老年肌肉中存在差异基因表达。老年肌肉中过度表达最显著（>3倍）的基因有p21（细胞周期蛋白依赖性激酶抑制剂1A），可能反映DNA损伤增加；围产期肌球蛋白重链，可能反映肌纤维再生增加；以及调钙素，其在肌肉中的功能尚不明确。超过40个编码与前体mRNA或mRNA结合蛋白的基因在老年肌肉中表达水平更高。超过100个参与能量代谢的基因在老年肌肉中表达水平较低。总体而言，这些结果支持了之前关于年轻男性和老年男性基因表达谱差异的观察。
