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Single-cell RNA-Seq of young, old and metformin-treated mouse muscle and adipose

ABSTRACT: Here we investigate the nature of cellular heterogeneity in the gene expression of aging and characterize the changes that metformin causes in mouse adipose and muscle at the single-cell resolution. The single cell transcriptomes of ~13,000 cells were captured using single-cell RNA-sequencing, resulting in gene expression data for 13 cell types from the visceral adipose tissue stromal-vascular fraction and ~5,000 cells from 12 cell types from the gastrocnemius muscle. The study design featured three groups of male C57BL/6J mice that corresponded to three-month-old controls (young), 18-month-old controls (old), and 18-month-olds treated with 1000 ppm (0.1% w/w) metformin for 6 weeks (treated). Our analyses demonstrate that metformin’s age-associated changes results in the modulation of an old to young expression profile via a cell type-specific manner. This reversion is demonstrated by significant changes observed in cell-type proportions and the degree of cell-cell heterogeneity. Additionally, metformin is known to restore the dysregulation due to age in autophagy and immune response in adipose, hypoxia in muscle, and inflammatory responses in both tissues. In our data, we detect evidence of these processes at play where endothelial cells, macrophages, and stem/progenitor cells respond most effectively to metformin’s gerotherapeutic response compared to other cell types. We further characterize metformin’s role in reverting age-associated cell-type-specific shifts in the transcriptional space by investigating changes in gene expression distributions and gene regulatory network dynamics.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE194386 | GEO | 2022/11/07

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Metformin is a type 2 diabetes medication which extends life span across species when given from young adulthood onwards; late life effects of metformin are not well understood. Here we used C. elegans to investigate the outcome of metformin treatment initiated late in life. We found that, contrary to young age administration, old age metformin treatment interferes with energy homeostasis and shortens life span by aggravating age-associated mitochondrial dysfunction. Nematode mutants defective in mitochondrial respiration, mitochondrial biogenesis and mitochondrial quality control were highly susceptible to metformin killing already at young age while insulin receptor deficient nematodes carrying healthier mitochondria were protected from late life metformin toxicity. In the mammalian cell culture model of replicative senescence metformin killing correlated with loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and strong reduction of systemic ATP levels. Reduced ATP levels and depletion of lipid stores consistent with energy deficit were observed also in nematodes following late life metformin treatment. At the molecular level young animals responded to metformin by inducing adaptive stress responses and longevity-assurance pathways while old nematodes demonstrated a protein expression signature consistent with lipid turnover and energy deficit. Ectopic ATP supplementation was sufficient to alleviate metformin toxicity in human skin fibroblasts highlighting the key contribution of energy deficit to the detrimental effect of metformin. Also, co-exposure with rapamycin, known to stabilize cellular ATP levels under conditions of mitochondrial failure, significantly reduced metformin-inflicted lethality in both cells and old animals. In summary we uncovered a novel negative synergism between metformin treatment and mitochondrial dysfunction which gains importance late in life and may limit therapeutic benefits of metformin for older patients; these side effects can partially be overcome by co-treatment with agents stabilizing cellular ATP levels such as rapamycin.

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Single-cell RNA-Seq of young, old and metformin-treated mouse muscle and adipose

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