Updated project metadata.
The age and sex of studied animals profoundly impacts experimental outcomes in animal-based biomedical research. However, most preclinical studies in mice use a wide-spanning age range from 4 to 14 weeks and do not assess study parameters in male and female mice in parallel. This raises concerns regarding reproducibility and neglect of potentially relevant age and sex differences. Furthermore, the molecular setup of tissues in dependence of age and sex is unknown in naïve mice precluding efficient translational research. Here, we first compared two different mass spectrometric acquisition methods – DDA- and DIA-PASEF – in order to maximize the depth of proteome quantitation. We then employed an optimized workflow of quantitative proteomics based on DIA-PASEF followed by DIA-NN data analysis, and revealed significant differences in mouse paw skin and sciatic nerve (SCN) when comparing (i) male and female mice, and, in parallel, (ii) adolescent mice (4 weeks) with adult mice (14 weeks).