The art of growing old: environmental manipulation, physiological rhythms, and the advent of Microcebus murinus as a primate model of aging

History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Lucie Gerber

Abstract

In the early 1990s, Microcebus murinus, a small primate endemic to Madagascar, emerged as a potential animal model for the study of aging and Alzheimer's disease. This paper traces the use of the lesser mouse lemur in research on aging and associated neurodegenerative diseases, focusing on a basic material precondition that made this possible, namely, the conversion of a wild animal into an experimental organism that lives, breeds, and survives in the laboratory. It argues that the "old" mouse lemur model can be considered as an eco-zootechnical acquisition. This is shown by examining how, since the early 1970s, French mouse lemur researchers have articulated colony productivity and viability with the influence of environmental factors on the demographics and physiology of the species. The appearance and maintenance of a growing number of old mouse lemurs in French research facilities are related to three developments: the application of the ecological notion of "social stress" to the understanding and management of the behavior of the captive population; the experimental demonstration that a variety of seasonal physiological changes in the species were influenced by the photoperiod; and the related attempt to accelerate aging ...Continue Reading

References

Jun 1, 1972·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·C S Pittendrigh, D H Minis
Jan 1, 1966·Folia primatologica; international journal of primatology·F Bourlière, A Petter-Rousseaux
Jan 1, 1997·ILAR Journal·Steven N. Austad
Apr 15, 1961·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·J J CHRISTIAN
Dec 18, 1964·Science·J J CHRISTIAN, D E DAVIS
Feb 1, 1946·The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism·H SELYE
Aug 2, 2011·Ageing Research Reviews·S LanguilleF Aujard
Mar 28, 2012·Isis; an International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences·Edmund Ramsden
Apr 22, 2016·Journal of the History of Biology·Susan D Jones
Feb 9, 2018·History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences·Robert G W Kirk, Edmund Ramsden
Oct 3, 2018·Communications Biology·Fabien PifferiFabienne Aujard
Sep 5, 2019·Acta Neuropathologica Communications·Charlotte GaryMarc Dhenain

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Aug 3, 2021·Journal of the History of Biology·R Ashton Macfarlane

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Cell Aging (Keystone)

This feed focuses on cellular aging with emphasis on the mitochondria, autophagy, and metabolic processes associated with aging and longevity. Here is the latest research on cell aging.