Gaëtan Poulen, Nacéra Douich, Chloé M Gazard, Nadine Mestre-Francés, Maïda Cardoso, Luc Bauchet, Florence Vachiery-Lahaye, Nicolas Lonjon, Yannick N Gerber, Florence E Perrin
{"title":"Sex and age differences in glia and myelin in nonhuman primate and human spinal cords: implications for pathology.","authors":"Gaëtan Poulen, Nacéra Douich, Chloé M Gazard, Nadine Mestre-Francés, Maïda Cardoso, Luc Bauchet, Florence Vachiery-Lahaye, Nicolas Lonjon, Yannick N Gerber, Florence E Perrin","doi":"10.1038/s41420-025-02425-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In a healthy central nervous system, glial cells are influenced by genetic, epigenetic, age, and sex factors. Aging typically causes astrocytes and microglia to undergo changes that reduce their neuroprotective functions and increase harmful activities. Additionally, sex-related differences in glial and myelin functions may impact neurological disorders. Despite this, few studies have investigated glial cells in primates, with most focusing on the brain. This study aims to explore whether glial cells and myelin exhibit age- and sex-related differences in the spinal cord of nonhuman primates and humans. We used immunohistochemistry and myelin staining to analyze healthy spinal cord samples from midlife and aged individuals of both sexes, focusing on Microcebus murinus (a small nonhuman primate) and humans. Primate spinal cords show distinct variations in glial markers and myelin characteristics related to sex and age, with differences varying between species. Notably, GFAP expression is sex-dependent in both primate species. We also observed greater differences in the expression of microglial markers than other glial markers. Overall, we found the opposite pattern for the g-ratio and oligodendrocytic marker between species. These findings suggest that glial cells may play a critical role in age- and sex-related differences in the prevalence and progression of spinal cord diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":9735,"journal":{"name":"Cell Death Discovery","volume":"11 1","pages":"129"},"PeriodicalIF":6.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11965325/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Cell Death Discovery","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41420-025-02425-9","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CELL BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In a healthy central nervous system, glial cells are influenced by genetic, epigenetic, age, and sex factors. Aging typically causes astrocytes and microglia to undergo changes that reduce their neuroprotective functions and increase harmful activities. Additionally, sex-related differences in glial and myelin functions may impact neurological disorders. Despite this, few studies have investigated glial cells in primates, with most focusing on the brain. This study aims to explore whether glial cells and myelin exhibit age- and sex-related differences in the spinal cord of nonhuman primates and humans. We used immunohistochemistry and myelin staining to analyze healthy spinal cord samples from midlife and aged individuals of both sexes, focusing on Microcebus murinus (a small nonhuman primate) and humans. Primate spinal cords show distinct variations in glial markers and myelin characteristics related to sex and age, with differences varying between species. Notably, GFAP expression is sex-dependent in both primate species. We also observed greater differences in the expression of microglial markers than other glial markers. Overall, we found the opposite pattern for the g-ratio and oligodendrocytic marker between species. These findings suggest that glial cells may play a critical role in age- and sex-related differences in the prevalence and progression of spinal cord diseases.
期刊介绍：
Cell Death Discovery is a multidisciplinary, international, online-only, open access journal, dedicated to publishing research at the intersection of medicine with biochemistry, pharmacology, immunology, cell biology and cell death, provided it is scientifically sound. The unrestricted access to research findings in Cell Death Discovery will foster a dynamic and highly productive dialogue between basic scientists and clinicians, as well as researchers in industry with a focus on cancer, neurobiology and inflammation research. As an official journal of the Cell Death Differentiation Association (ADMC), Cell Death Discovery will build upon the success of Cell Death & Differentiation and Cell Death & Disease in publishing important peer-reviewed original research, timely reviews and editorial commentary.
Cell Death Discovery is committed to increasing the reproducibility of research. To this end, in conjunction with its sister journals Cell Death & Differentiation and Cell Death & Disease, Cell Death Discovery provides a unique forum for scientists as well as clinicians and members of the pharmaceutical and biotechnical industry. It is committed to the rapid publication of high quality original papers that relate to these subjects, together with topical, usually solicited, reviews, editorial correspondence and occasional commentaries on controversial and scientifically informative issues.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
