College Honors Program

Dog Days are Here: Canine LMSCs as a Novel Model System

Date of Creation

5-31-2023

Document Type

Campus Access Only

First Advisor

Julia Paxson

Abstract

Biologists have spent decades trying to understand why we age, and as part of this effort, they have identified a number of species to use as models of human aging. The most common stand-ins are mice and rats, with thousands of rodent aging studies published each year. But how well does rodent aging model that of humans? Research suggests that rats and mice may not be the best proxies of aging. Instead, we propose turning to man’s best friend. A review of the existing literature suggests that the companion dog may be an ideal model of human aging. Humans and their dogs share physiologic, genetic, and environmental similarities which make companions dogs an enticing means of accurately modeling human aging, especially when compared to rodents. Additionally, our own experimental evidence examining common iomarkers of aging- reactive oxygen species and senescence- suggests that the cellular aging phenotype of companion dogs is sometimes contradictory to the results more commonly seen in other model organisms This finding calls for a broadening of the types of species that researchers consider “models” of aging, and we propose the companion dog is a good place to start.

Comments

Reader: Michelle A. Mondoux

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