A new bestiary for aging research
Article Abstract:
Animal species selected as models for the study of aging are becoming diverse and moving beyond the mice and rats of yesterday. Examples of species currently under study include the fruit fly, the sea slug, the platyfish, the Japanese quail, the canyon lizard, the freshwater turtle, and the opossum. The evolutionary theory of aging predicts correlations between the age of maturity and the onset of aging. Fruit flies, whose genetic make-up has been well-characterized, have been bred to exhibit a 100 percent increase in lifespan. Delaying the point in lifespan when sea slugs attach themselves to coral and become adults has extended these creatures' longevity. In contrast, platyfish can be bred to mature earlier than normal. Male Japanese quail that have stopped courtship behavior (a sign of aging) can be rejuvenated with hormone injections; researchers wonder what was lost, then regained. While some animals, such as canyon lizards, appear to decline with age in athletic performance, others do not. The freshwater turtle lays as many eggs at 50 as at 15. The evolutionary theory of aging maintains that animals' aging rates parallel their death rates, from whatever cause. Opossums on the Georgia mainland have half the lifespan of opossums on a nearby island where predators and cars are nonexistent. Studying animal models allows researchers to understand aging in general, as well as aging in a continuum of species as an evolutionary force. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Science
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8075
Year: 1990
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Japan: feeling the strains of an aging population
Article Abstract:
Japan currently has the longest life expectancy on Earth, and the nation's social system for taking care of its elderly is beginning to show some strain. How Japan plans to deal with its growing elderly population in the next century is analyzed.
Publication Name: Science
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8075
Year: 1996
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Aging twins offer clues to late-onset illness
Article Abstract:
A National Academy of Sciences' database containing information about 16,000 pairs of twins who served in World War II can be used by scientists who are studying the genetic and environmental contributions to diseases of old age.
Publication Name: Science
Subject: Science and technology
ISSN: 0036-8075
Year: 1993
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