Single-cell transcriptomics reveals spaceflight-induced accelerated aging and impaired recovery in the murine bone marrow

Abstract

Spaceflight induces physiological changes that resemble accelerated aging, however, how age influences bone marrow response at the cellular level remains poorly understood. Here, we perform single-cell transcriptomic profiling of murine femur and humerus bone marrow from young (12-week-old) and old (29-week-old) mice that underwent a 32-day spaceflight mission followed by a 24-day Earth recovery, with age-matched ground controls. Our analysis reveals that, compared with young cohorts, old mice exhibit persistent dysregulation after spaceflight, most prominently in erythroid and B cell lineages. In erythroid cells, old flight mice show pronounced aging signatures, characterized by impaired maturation, inhibited mitophagy, and increased oxidative stress. In B cells, old flight mice show dysregulation associated with failure of the AP-1 stress-response pathway and complete collapse of the intercellular CXCL signaling network. Our findings dissect the age-dependent effects of spaceflight on the bone marrow hematopoietic and immune system at single-cell resolution, and demonstrate that spaceflight imposes a disproportionate burden on the aged hematopoietic system and blunts post-flight recovery. These insights provide candidate pathways and biomarkers for health monitoring and countermeasures in long-duration missions.