Fig. 6: Female mouse brains exhibit stronger pro-inflammatory changes.

A Heatmap of count mean values for 73 mRNAs shared among at least five regions grouped by age and sex at pseudobulk level (left). Heatmap of count mean values of 69 of the 73 mRNAs detected in the second round of experiments with n = 3 biological replicates per age per sex (middle). Heatmap of the count mean values of 69 of the 73 mRNAs with n = 5 biological replicate per age per sex. n = 37 out 69 DARs significantly higher in old females than old males (FDR <0.05, and FC ≥1.5) are labeled red (right). B Bar plot showing the number of age-related DARs in female and male mice split by brain region. The age-related mRNAs were filtered by FDR <0.05 and FC ≥1.5 or FC ≤1.5 in old vs. young. C Venn diagram showing overlap of four indicated groups of DARs in old vs. young, male and female mice in fiber tracts. D Scatterplot showing significant DARs in old vs. young male and female mice (FDR <0.05, FC ≥1.5 or ≤−1.5) in fiber tracts. E Bar plot of activated microglia marker mRNAs Lgals3, Aif1, Trem2, Tyrobp, and Lyz2; complement pathway marker mRNAs C4b, C1qa, C1qb, and C1qc; and activated astrocyte marker mRNAs Serpina3n, Gfap, Gpnmb, and Vim in fiber tracts of young and old, male and female mice. Data were summarized as mean ± standard error of the relative mean counts. Each dot shows the expression in an individual animal relative to the mean of the young female group, equivalent to n = 5 biological replicates per age per sex. p values are reported from a one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.