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With the improvement of living standards and medical technology, human life expectancy is gradually increasing, which has led to an unprecedented increase in the global elderly population. As a result, the burden of age-related diseases has also increased exponentially. Thus, it is necessary to improve understanding of aging and disease processes at the biological, organ and cellular levels, to develop therapeutic strategies for the prevention and treatment of aging-related diseases based on aging-related molecular pathways.

Since mice are easy to raise and handle, and have a shorter life span (~2.5 years), they are an attractive mammalian model organism for research on aging and related diseases. Because C57BL/6J is one of the most widely used inbred strains, the survival of C57BL/6J mice has been used to estimate comparable human ages. Young adult mice are 3-6 months old (20-30 year old humans), middle-aged mice are 10-15 months old (38-47 year old humans) and elderly mice are 18-24 months old (56-69 year old humans).

Biocytogen provides high-quality aged mice that can be used for research of aging, tumors, metabolic diseases and other related diseases. The currently available strains are as follows:

Aged mice data

Plasma and urine biochemistry between young and aged C57BL/6N mice

Plasma and urine biochemistry between young and old mice. Various changes in plasma and urine markers were noted between young and aged C57BL/6N mice, such as creatinine(CREA), total protein(TP), urea. The TP and urea from both plasma(A) and urine(B) were increased in aged mice. The CREA derived from urine(B) was increased in aged mice while the CREA from plasma(A) has no difference between the young and aged mice.

Effect of aging on DC-induced NK activation

In Vivo Activation of NK. Poly I:C was injected into young and aged mice; 24h later, the expression of CD69 on blood(A) and splenic(B) DCs and NKs was examined. In old mice, a significantly lower percentage of DCs and NKs became CD69-positive after poly I:C injection.

Effect of aging on DC-induced NK activation

In vivo activation of NKs and IFN-γ and granzyme expression. Poly I:C was injected into young and aged mice; 24h later, the expression of Granzyme B and IFN-γ on blood(A) and splenic(B) DCs and NKs was examined. In old mice, a significantly lower percentage of DCs and NKs became Granzyme B-positive after poly I:C injection. The percentage of DCs and NKs with IFN-γ lowered in the old mice compared with the young mice but there is no significance.

Anti-tumor effect of anti-PD1 on MC38 in young and old mice  

Impact on anti-PD-1 antibody response among the young, mid-aged and aged mice. Murine colon cancer MC38 cells (1E5)(A) and 5E5(B) were subcutaneously implanted into young, mid-aged and aged mice, respectively. Mice were grouped when tumor volume reached approximately 80~100mm³, at which time they were treated with PBS or anti-PD1. The anti-PD1 mAb could decrease the tumor growth in all age groups when the MC38 were implanted at 1E5, and the antitumor effect was greatest in aged group(A). However, when the inoculation dosage was 5E5, the anti-PD1 mAb only decrease the tumor growth in the young group while the anti-PD1 mAb didn’t decrease tumor in mid-aged or aged group mice(B).