Peripheral Blood Cells from Older Adults Exhibit Sex-Associated Differences in Mitochondrial Function

• Published in: The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2024-05, Vol.79 (5)
• Main Authors: Mahapatra, Gargi, Gao, Zhengrong, Bateman, 3rd, James R, Lockhart, Samuel Neal, Bergstrom, Jaclyn, Piloso, Jemima Elizabeth, Craft, Suzanne, Molina, Anthony J A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: THE JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY: Biological SCIENCES
• ISSN: 1079-5006; 1758-535X
• DOI: 10.1093/gerona/glae098

Blood based mitochondrial bioenergetic profiling is a feasible, economical, and minimally invasive approach that can be used to examine mitochondrial function and energy metabolism in human subjects. In this study, we use two complementary respirometric techniques to evaluate mitochondrial bioenergetics in both intact and permeabilized peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and platelets to examine sex dimorphism in mitochondrial function among older adults. Employing equal numbers of PBMCs and platelets to assess mitochondrial bioenergetics, we observe significantly higher respiration rates in female compared to male participants. Mitochondrial bioenergetic differences remain significant after controlling for independent parameters including demographic parameters (age, years of education), and cognitive parameters (mPACC5, COGDX). Our study illustrates that circulating blood cells, immune cells in particular, have distinctly different mitochondrial bioenergetic profiles between females and males. These differences should be taken into account as blood based bioenergetic profiling is now commonly used to understand the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics in human health and aging.