Sex-specific modulation of renal epigenetic and injury markers in aging kidney.

Abstract

Sex differences in renal physiology and pathophysiology are well established in rodent models and humans. While renal epigenetics play a crucial role in injury, the impact of biological sex on aging kidney epigenome is less known, as most of the studies are from male rodents. We sought to determine the influence of sex and age on kidney epigenetic and injury markers, using male and female mice at 4-month (4M; young), 12-month (12M), and 24-month (24M; aged) of age. Females exhibited a significant increase in kidney and body weight and serum creatinine and decreased serum albumin levels from ages 4M to 24M, whereas minor changes were observed in male mice. Males exhibited higher levels of circulating histone 3 (H3; damage-associated molecular pattern molecules) compared with age-matched females. Kidney injury molecule-1 levels increased in serum and renal tissues from 12M to 24M in both sexes. Overall, females had markedly high histone acetyltransferase activity than age-matched males. Aged females had substantially decreased H3 methylation at lysine 9 and 27 and histone methyltransferase activity compared to aged males. Klotho levels were significantly higher in young males than females and decreased with age in males, whereas epigenetic repressor of Klotho, H3K27me3 and its enzyme, EZH2 augmented with age in both sexes. Proinflammatory NF-κB (p65) signaling increased with age in both sexes. Taken together, our data suggest that renal aging may lie in a range between normal and diseased kidneys, but differ between female and male mice, highlighting sex-specific regulation of renal epigenome in aging.