Human skeletal muscle aging atlas

Skeletal muscle aging is a key contributor to age-related frailty and sarcopenia with substantial implications for global health. Here we profiled 90,902 single cells and 92,259 single nuclei from 17 donors to map the aging process in the adult human intercostal muscle, identifying cellular changes in each muscle compartment. We found that distinct subsets of muscle stem cells exhibit decreased ribosome biogenesis genes and increased CCL2 expression, causing different aging phenotypes. Our atlas also highlights an expansion of nuclei associated with the neuromuscular junction, which may reflect re-innervation, and outlines how the loss of fast-twitch myofibers is mitigated through regeneration and upregulation…

• W
  Wellcome

  Awards: WT211276/Z/18/Z, WT206194
• WT
  Wellcome Trust

  Award: 220540/Z/20/A
• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 31871370, 32000840
• NS
  Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province

  Award: 2021A1515012065
• H2
  Horizon 2020 Framework Programme

  Award: 101026233