Single-cell analysis of the aged ovarian immune system reveals a shift towards adaptive immunity and attenuated cell function

The immune system plays a major role in maintaining many physiological processes in the reproductive system. However, a complete characterization of the immune milieu in the ovary, and particularly how it is affected by female aging, is still lacking. Here, we utilize single-cell RNA sequencing and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:eLife 2023-04, Vol.12
Main Authors: Ben Yaakov, Tal, Wasserman, Tanya, Aknin, Eliel, Savir, Yonatan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive Immunity
Age
Aging
Animals
Annotations
Chemokines
Computational and Systems Biology
Cytokines
Dendritic cells
Female
Fertility
Flow cytometry
Follicles
Gene expression
Immune clearance
Immune System
Immunity (Disease)
Immunology and Inflammation
Inflammation
Lymphocytes
Menopause
Mice
Neutrophils
Ovarian Follicle
Ovaries
ovary
Ovary - metabolism
Ovulation
Post-menopause
Reproductive system
Single-Cell Analysis
single-cell sequencing
Spleen
systems aging
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Summary:The immune system plays a major role in maintaining many physiological processes in the reproductive system. However, a complete characterization of the immune milieu in the ovary, and particularly how it is affected by female aging, is still lacking. Here, we utilize single-cell RNA sequencing and flow cytometry to construct the complete description of the murine ovarian immune system. We show that the composition of the immune cells undergoes an extensive shift with age towards adaptive immunity. We analyze the effect of aging on gene expression and chemokine and cytokine networks and show an overall decreased expression of inflammatory mediators together with an increased expression of senescent cells recognition receptors. Our results suggest that the fertile female's ovarian immune aging differs from the suggested female post-menopause inflammaging as it copes with the inflammatory stimulations during repeated cycles and the increasing need for clearance of accumulating atretic follicles.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/eLife.74915