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Epel E. COMMENTARY: Foundational social geroscience: Social stress, reproductive health, and lifecourse aging across mammals. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 161:105642. [PMID: 38552758 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Elissa Epel
- University of California San Francisco, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, 675 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94143, United States.
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Weibel CJ, Dasari MR, Jansen DA, Gesquiere LR, Mututua RS, Warutere JK, Siodi LI, Alberts SC, Tung J, Archie EA. Using non-invasive behavioral and physiological data to measure biological age in wild baboons. GeroScience 2024:10.1007/s11357-024-01157-5. [PMID: 38693466 DOI: 10.1007/s11357-024-01157-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 05/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Biological aging is near-ubiquitous in the animal kingdom, but its timing and pace vary between individuals and over lifespans. Prospective, individual-based studies of wild animals-especially non-human primates-help identify the social and environmental drivers of this variation by indicating the conditions and exposure windows that affect aging processes. However, measuring individual biological age in wild primates is challenging because several of the most promising methods require invasive sampling. Here, we leverage observational data on behavior and physiology, collected non-invasively from 319 wild female baboons across 2402 female-years of study, to develop a composite predictor of age: the non-invasive physiology and behavior (NPB) clock. We found that age predictions from the NPB clock explained 51% of the variation in females' known ages. Further, deviations from the clock's age predictions predicted female survival: females predicted to be older than their known ages had higher adult mortality. Finally, females who experienced harsh early-life conditions were predicted to be about 6 months older than those who grew up in more benign conditions. While the relationship between early adversity and NPB age is noisy, this estimate translates to a predicted 2-3 year reduction in mean adult lifespan in our model. A constraint of our clock is that it is tailored to data collection approaches implemented in our study population. However, many of the clock's components have analogs in other populations, suggesting that non-invasive data can provide broadly applicable insight into heterogeneity in biological age in natural populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chelsea J Weibel
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA
| | - Mauna R Dasari
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA
| | - David A Jansen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA
| | | | - Raphael S Mututua
- Amboseli Baboon Research Project, Amboseli National Park, Kajiado, Kenya
| | - J Kinyua Warutere
- Amboseli Baboon Research Project, Amboseli National Park, Kajiado, Kenya
| | - Long'ida I Siodi
- Amboseli Baboon Research Project, Amboseli National Park, Kajiado, Kenya
| | - Susan C Alberts
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Duke University Population Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Jenny Tung
- Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Duke University Population Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, M5G 1M1, Canada
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Elizabeth A Archie
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
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Rosenbaum S, Malani A, Lea AJ, Tung J, Alberts SC, Archie EA. Testing frameworks for early life effects: the developmental constraints and adaptive response hypotheses do not explain key fertility outcomes in wild female baboons. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.23.590627. [PMID: 38712305 PMCID: PMC11071398 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.23.590627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2024]
Abstract
In evolutionary ecology, two classes of explanations are frequently invoked to explain "early life effects" on adult outcomes. Developmental constraints (DC) explanations contend that costs of early adversity arise from limitations adversity places on optimal development. Adaptive response (AR) hypotheses propose that later life outcomes will be worse when early and adult environments are poorly "matched." Here, we use recently proposed mathematical definitions for these hypotheses and a quadratic-regression based approach to test the long-term consequences of variation in developmental environments on fertility in wild baboons. We evaluate whether low rainfall and/or dominance rank during development predict three female fertility measures in adulthood, and whether any observed relationships are consistent with DC and/or AR. Neither rainfall during development nor the difference between rainfall in development and adulthood predicted any fertility measures. Females who were low-ranking during development had an elevated risk of losing infants later in life, and greater change in rank between development and adulthood predicted greater risk of infant loss. However, both effects were statistically marginal and consistent with alternative explanations, including adult environmental quality effects. Consequently, our data do not provide compelling support for either of these common explanations for the evolution of early life effects.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Anup Malani
- University of Chicago Law School & National Bureau of Economic Research
| | - Amanda J Lea
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University
| | - Jenny Tung
- Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary, Anthropology; Departments of Evolutionary Anthropology & Biology, Duke University
| | - Susan C Alberts
- Departments of Evolutionary Anthropology & Biology, Duke University
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Sapolsky R. Making sense of the costs of adversity throughout the lifespan on aging in humans and other animals. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 159:105571. [PMID: 38316195 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 02/07/2024]
Abstract
Social adversity, particularly early in life, can cause lifelong damage to health; by now, numerous studies examine this relationship in non-human species, producing some important themes: A) Captive animals readily lack ethological validity, giving a special place to studies of natural populations; one must appreciate though, that animal studies typically benefit humans who themselves lack ecological validity, namely Westernized subjects. B) Animal studies of the links between social adversity and psychiatric maladies potentially produce anthropomorphism; however, long-term study of our closest relatives demonstrates how convincingly another primate can, for example, experience grief, rather than display "grief-like" behavior. C) Are long-term consequences of social adversity best viewed as maladaptive and pathological, or as adaptive preparation for similar adversity later in life?; the growing literature casts light on when adversity's consequences are the purview of medicine or natural history. D) Studies examining sustained adversity and aging can increasingly distinguish between aging versus diseases of aging or cohort effects, and between aging effects arising from direct physiological mechanisms or indirect behavioral ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Sapolsky
- Departments of Biology, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Stanford University, United States.
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Sapolsky R. Scars and PARs in a close relative. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2401971121. [PMID: 38466859 PMCID: PMC10962960 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2401971121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/13/2024] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Robert Sapolsky
- Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305-5020
- Department of Neurology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305-5020
- Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA94305-5020
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Rothwell ES, Carp SB, Bliss-Moreau E. The importance of social behavior in nonhuman primate studies of aging: A mini-review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 154:105422. [PMID: 37806369 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
Social behavior plays an important role in supporting both psychological and physical health across the lifespan. People's social lives change as they age, and the nature of these changes differ based on whether people are on healthy aging trajectories or are experiencing neurodegenerative diseases that cause dementia, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Nonhuman primate models of aging have provided a base of knowledge comparing aging trajectories in health and disease, but these studies rarely emphasize social behavior changes as a consequence of the aging process. What data exist hold particular value, as negative effects of disease and aging on social behavior are likely to have disproportionate impacts on quality of life. In this mini review, we examine the literature on nonhuman primate models of aging with a focus on social behavior, in the context of both health and disease. We propose that adopting a greater focus on social behavior outcomes in nonhuman primates will improve our understanding of the intersection of health, aging and sociality in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily S Rothwell
- Department of Neurobiology, School of Medicine University of Pittsburgh, 3501 Fifth Avenue, Biomedical Science Tower 3, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
| | - Sarah B Carp
- Neuroscience & Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California Davis, County Road 98 at Hutchinson Drive, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Eliza Bliss-Moreau
- Neuroscience & Behavior Unit, California National Primate Research Center, University of California Davis, County Road 98 at Hutchinson Drive, Davis, CA 95616, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California Davis, County Road 98 at Hutchinson Drive, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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Patterson SK, Andonov E, Arre AM, Martínez MI, Negron-Del Valle JE, Petersen RM, Phillips D, Rahman A, Ruiz-Lambides A, Villanueva I, Lea AJ, Snyder-Mackler N, Brent LJ, Higham JP. Early life adversity has sex-dependent effects on survival across the lifespan in rhesus macaques. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.08.30.555589. [PMID: 37693423 PMCID: PMC10491187 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.30.555589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
Exposure to adversity during early life is linked to lasting detrimental effects on evolutionary fitness across many taxa. However, due to the challenges of collecting longitudinal data, especially in species where one sex disperses, direct evidence from long-lived species remains relatively scarce. Here we test the effects of early life adversity on male and female longevity in a free-ranging population of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) at Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. We leveraged six decades of data to quantify the relative importance of ten forms of early life adversity for 6,599 macaques (3,230 male, 3,369 female), with a smaller sample size (N=299) for one form of adversity (maternal social isolation) which required high-resolution behavioral data. We found that individuals who experienced more early life adversity died earlier than those who experienced less adversity. Mortality risk was highest during early life, defined as birth to four years old, suggesting acute survival effects of adversity, but heightened mortality risk was also present in macaques who survived to adulthood. Females and males were affected differently by some forms of adversity, and these differences might be driven by varying energetic demands, female philopatry, and male dispersal. By leveraging data on thousands of macaques collected over decades, our results show that the fitness consequences of early life adversity are not uniform across individuals but vary as a function of the type of adversity, timing, and social context, and thus contribute to our limited but growing understanding of the evolution of early life sensitivities in long-lived species.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ella Andonov
- High School of American Studies at Lehman College, New York City
| | - Alyssa M. Arre
- Caribbean Primate Research Center, Unit of Comparative Medicine, University of Puerto Rico
| | - Melween I. Martínez
- Caribbean Primate Research Center, Unit of Comparative Medicine, University of Puerto Rico
| | | | | | | | | | - Angelina Ruiz-Lambides
- Caribbean Primate Research Center, Unit of Comparative Medicine, University of Puerto Rico
| | | | - Amanda J. Lea
- Department of Biological Science, Vanderbilt University
- Child and Brain Development Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Study, Toronto, Canada
| | - Noah Snyder-Mackler
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University
- School of Life Sciences and School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University
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