Chronological Aging Standard Curves of Telomere Length and Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Twelve Tissues of C57BL/6 Male Mouse

Abstract

The changes in telomere length and mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) are considered to be aging markers. However, many studies have provided contradictory or only fragmentary information about changes of these markers in animal models, due to inaccurate analysis methods and a lack of objective aging standards. To establish chronological aging standards for these two markers, we analyzed telomere length and mtDNAcn in 12 tissues—leukocytes, prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, pituitary gland, adrenal gland, retina, aorta, liver, kidney, spleen, skeletal muscle, and skin—from a commonly used rodent model, C57BL/6 male mice aged 2–24 months. It was found that at least one of the markers changed age-dependently in all tissues. In the leukocytes, hippocampus, retina, and skeletal muscle, both markers changed age-dependently. As a practical application, the aging marker changes were analyzed after chronic immobilization stress (CIS) to see whether CIS accelerated aging or not. The degree of tissue-aging was calculated using each standard curve and found that CIS accelerated aging in a tissue-specific manner. Therefore, it is expected that researchers can use our standard curves to objectively estimate tissue-specific aging accelerating effects of experimental conditions for least 12 tissues in C57BL/6 male mice.