TY - JOUR
T1 - Of aging mice and men
T2 - gait speed decline is a translatable trait, with species-specific underlying properties
AU - Bair, Woei-Nan
AU - Petr, Michael
AU - Alfaras, Irene
AU - Mitchell, Sarah J
AU - Bernier, Michel
AU - Ferrucci, Luigi
AU - Studenski, Stephanie A
AU - de Cabo, Rafael
PY - 2019/8/16
Y1 - 2019/8/16
N2 - In the last two decades, great strides were made in our ability to extend the lifespan of model organisms through dietary and other manipulations. Survival curves provide evidence of altered aging processes but are uninformative on what lead to that increase in lifespan. Longitudinal assessments of health and function during intervention studies could help in the identification of predictive biomarkers for health and survival. Comparable biomarkers of healthspan are necessary to effectively translate interventions into human clinical trials. Gait speed is a well-established predictive biomarker of healthspan in humans for risk of disability, health outcomes and mortality, and is relatively simple to assess non-invasively in rodents. In this study, we assessed and compared gait speed in males from two species (mice and humans), from young adulthood to advanced old age. Although gait speed decreases non-linearly with age in both species, the underlying drivers of this change in gait speed were different, with humans exhibiting a shortened step length, and mice displaying a decrease in cadence. Future longitudinal and interventional studies in mice should examine the predictive value of longitudinal declines in gait speed for health and survival.
AB - In the last two decades, great strides were made in our ability to extend the lifespan of model organisms through dietary and other manipulations. Survival curves provide evidence of altered aging processes but are uninformative on what lead to that increase in lifespan. Longitudinal assessments of health and function during intervention studies could help in the identification of predictive biomarkers for health and survival. Comparable biomarkers of healthspan are necessary to effectively translate interventions into human clinical trials. Gait speed is a well-established predictive biomarker of healthspan in humans for risk of disability, health outcomes and mortality, and is relatively simple to assess non-invasively in rodents. In this study, we assessed and compared gait speed in males from two species (mice and humans), from young adulthood to advanced old age. Although gait speed decreases non-linearly with age in both species, the underlying drivers of this change in gait speed were different, with humans exhibiting a shortened step length, and mice displaying a decrease in cadence. Future longitudinal and interventional studies in mice should examine the predictive value of longitudinal declines in gait speed for health and survival.
U2 - 10.1093/gerona/glz015
DO - 10.1093/gerona/glz015
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 30649206
SN - 1079-5006
JO - Journals of Gerontology. Series A: Biological Sciences & Medical Sciences
JF - Journals of Gerontology. Series A: Biological Sciences & Medical Sciences
ER -
