COMPARATIVE STUDIES OF AGING

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中的一个 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目及 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为 研究中心，而研究中心不一定是研究者所在的机构。 这项研究探讨了衰老过程如何不同地影响三种密切相关的灵长类动物物种的女性：人类，黑猩猩和恒河猴。 我们假设，这种进化过程导致了人类衰老表型的独特特征，这可以通过将人类的大脑和认知衰老与我们最近的亲戚黑猩猩以及最广泛研究的人类衰老生物医学模型恒河猴中的相同特征进行比较来最好地理解。 在这三个物种中使用可比的措施，并采用横截面和纵向研究，我们将制定一个全面的和综合的概述，社会，认知和神经衰老在这三个密切相关的旧世界灵长类动物。 该项目的初步进展包括触摸屏测试系统的构建和非人灵长类动物受试者的分配。 我们也开始招募人类实验对象。 认知测试已经开始在所有三个物种。我们预计，这些数据将为与年龄相关的功能衰退的生物学基础提供新的见解，并为成功与不成功的衰老提供因素。这种比较分析也可以阐明人类年龄相关的神经退行性疾病，如阿尔茨海默病（AD）的起源。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This study examines how the aging process differentially affects females of three closely related primate species: the human, the chimpanzee, and the rhesus monkey. We hypothesize that this evolutionary process has led to unique characteristics of the aging phenotype of the human, which can best be understood by comparing brain and cognitive aging in the human with the same features in our closest relative, the chimpanzee, and in the most widely studied biomedical model of human aging, the rhesus monkey. Using comparable measures in these three species and employing both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, we will develop a comprehensive and integrated overview of social, cognitive and neural aging in these three closely related Old World primates. Initial progress on this project includes construction of touch screen testing systems and assignment of nonhuman primate subjects. We have also begun recruitment of human subjects. Cognitive testing has been begun in all three species. We anticipate that the data will provide new insights into the biological basis of age-related functional decline, and into the factors that govern successful versus unsuccessful aging. This comparative analysis also can illuminate the origins of human age-related neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD).