Abstract: Objective To detect the proteomic changes in cerebral cortex and urine of aging mice and to explore the correlation between urinary and cerebral cortical proteomes. Methods Six mice of 1, 6 and 18-month-old were collec-ted, urine was collected and tissue was isolated from cerebral cortex under physiological conditions. Proteomic analysis was performed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS) was used to find potential differences and to analyze the function and the association between urine component and cerebral cortex proteomes. Results A total of 13 021 protein components were identified in the cerebral cortex and 1 064 protein components were identified in urine of mice. One-month-old mice proteomes focused on growth and development-related pathways, 6-month-old mice proteomes focused on energy metabolism and other pathways, and 18-month-old mice proteomes exhibited metabolic abnormalities and homeostatic imbalances. Correlation analysis revealed that urine can reflect the changes in proteins related to immunity, cell proliferation and aging in the cerebral cortex. Conclusions Urine proteome of senescent mice reflects cerebral cortex changes and provides clues for research on bio-markers of aging-related diseases.

Key words: aging, cerebral cortex, urine, proteomics