Journal article
Comparative and alternative approaches and novel animal models for aging research: Introduction to special issue
Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands), Vol.30(2-3), pp.63-73
09/2008
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/110124
PMCID: PMC2527630
PMID: 19424857
Abstract
This special issue of
AGE
showcases powerful alternative or unconventional approaches to basic aging research, including the use of exceptionally long-lived animal model species and comparative methods from evolutionary biology. In this opening paper, we introduce several of these alternative aging research themes, including the comparative phylogenetic approach. This approach applies modern inferential methods for dissecting basic physiological and biochemical mechanisms correlated with phenotypic traits including longevity, slow aging, sustained somatic maintenance, and repair of molecular damage. Comparative methods can be used to assess the general relevance of specific aging mechanisms—including oxidative processes—to diverse animal species, as well as to assess their potential clinical relevance to humans and other mammals. We also introduce several other novel, underexploited approaches with particular relevance to biogerontology, including the use of model animal species or strains that retain natural genetic heterogeneity, studies of effects of infectious disease and parasites on aging and responses to caloric restriction, studies of reproductive aging, and naturally occurring sex differences in aging. We emphasize the importance of drawing inferences from aging phenomena in laboratory studies that can be applied to clinically relevant aging syndromes in long-lived, outbred animals, including humans.
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Details
- Title
- Comparative and alternative approaches and novel animal models for aging research
- Creators
- D. J Holmes - School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Box 664236, Pullman, WA 99164-4236 USAD. M Kristan - Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, San Marcos, CA USA
- Publication Details
- Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands), Vol.30(2-3), pp.63-73
- Academic Unit
- Center for Reproductive Biology
- Publisher
- Springer Netherlands; Dordrecht
- Identifiers
- 99900547251301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article