Single-cell RNA-seq of young and aged alveolar macrophages

Abstract

Abstract Alveolar Macrophages (AMs) are a unique population of innate immune cells that reside in the alveolar space and contribute to accommodate the ever-changing need of the lungs against the external environmental challenges. AMs derive from the fetal origins and are capable of maintaining themselves through self-renewal without the input of hematopoiesis during the adulthood. However, little is known about how aging is influencing the molecular characteristics and heterogeneity of the AMs during homeostasis. Using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and Seurat clustering, we discovered AMs can be subdivided into different “subsets” with unique molecular characteristics during homeostasis. Interestingly, when we further investigate the AM population with the combined data from the young(~8w) and old(~2y) mice, the data suggested that the proliferating cell fall in the same cluster with reduced number in the old-mice group, while the poised inflammatory cells showed distinct molecular patterns between the group with different age. We hypothesize that the inflammatory and the self-renewal AM subpopulations may be maintained by distinct extracellular signals. With the progress of aging, the self-renewal ability of AMs would reduce because of the number of proliferating cells but not the change of molecular patterns. At the same time, the inflammatory population would change its characteristics with age, and potentially lead to functional change upon activation. Further validation of the AM subset identity as well as the developmental and functional interrelationship of these subsets are required. In addition, the extrinsic and intrinsic signals responsible for the maintenance of these AM subsets are to be explored.