Sex does not Influence Neuronal Autophagy throughout Aging in Mice

Autophagy is critical for the homeostasis and function of neurons, as misregulation of autophagy has been implicated in age-related neurodegenerative diseases and neuron-specific knockdown of early autophagy genes results in early neurodegeneration in mice. We previously found that autophagosome formation decreases with age in murine neurons. Sex differences have been intensely studied in neurodegenerative diseases, but whether sex differences influence autophagy at the neuronal level have not been investigated. We compared protein expression of 22 autophagy components between neural tissues of female and male mice across development and aging. We found minimal sex-related differences in autophagy protein expression throughout the murine lifespan. Additionally, we assayed the recruitment of autophagy complexes and autophagosome biogenesis; we found no sex-dependent differences in multiple stages of autophagosome formation in neurons, independent of age. Our data suggest that biological sex does not influence autophagosome formation in neurons across development and aging.