The ticking clock of Cayo Santiago macaques and its implications for understanding human circadian rhythm disorders.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Zhdanova IV
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4851432 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Long-lived iteroparous species often show aging-related changes in reproduction that may be explained by 2 non-mutually exclusive hypotheses. The terminal investment hypothesis predicts increased female reproductive effort toward the end of the life span, as individuals have little to gain by reserving effort for the future. The senescence hypothesis predicts decreased female reproductive output toward the end of the life span due to an age-related decline in body condition. Nonhuman primates are ideal organisms for testing these hypotheses, as they are long lived and produce altricial offspring heavily dependent on maternal investment. In this study, we integrated 50 years of continuous demographic records for the Cayo Santiago rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) population with new morphometric and behavioral data to test the senescence and terminal investment hypotheses. We examined relationships between maternal age and activity, mother and infant body condition, interbirth intervals, measures of behavioral investment in offspring, and offspring survival and fitness to test for age-associated declines in reproduction that would indicate senescence, and for age-associated increases in maternal effort that would indicate terminal investment. Compared with younger mothers, older mothers had lower body mass indices and were less active, had longer interbirth intervals, and spent more time in contact with infants, but had infants of lower masses and survival rates. Taken together, our results provide strong evidence for the occurrence of reproductive senescence in free-ranging female rhesus macaques but are also consistent with some of the predictions of the terminal investment hypothesis.
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Project description:As natural disasters become more frequent due to climate change, understanding the biological impact of these ecological catastrophes on wild populations becomes increasingly pertinent. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA), or random deviations from bilateral symmetry, is reflective of developmental instability and has long been positively associated with increases in environmental stress. This study investigates craniofacial FA in a population of free-ranging rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) that has experienced multiple Category 3 hurricanes since the colony's inception on Cayo Santiago, including 275 individuals from ages 9 months to 31 years (F = 154; M = 121). Using geometric morphometrics to quantify FA and a linear mixed-effect model for analysis, we found that sex, age, and decade of birth did not influence the amount of FA in the individuals included in the study, but the developmental stage at which individuals experienced these catastrophic events greatly impacted the amount of FA exhibited (p = .001). Individuals that experienced these hurricanes during fetal life exhibited greater FA than any other post-natal developmental period. These results indicate that natural disasters can be associated with developmental disruption that results in long-term effects if occurring during the prenatal period, possibly due to increases in maternal stress-related hormones.
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Project description:Based on sexual selection theory, the reproductive potential of male primates is expected to be limited by access to fertile females. Alpha males, the highest ranking males in a social group, are predicted to have better access to mates and produce more offspring until they are no longer dominant, which usually corresponds with age. Little is known about male reproductive senescence independent of rank changes in nonhuman primates. Here, we examine variation in the reproductive success of high-ranking male rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago. We recorded behavioral data for 21 adult males across 9 social groups during the 2013 mating season. Additionally, we used paternity data from the long-term database to determine the number of offspring each subject sired over his lifetime and during the study period. Older high-ranking males in stable groups had fewer offspring than younger high-ranking males in stable groups in 2013. The low reproductive output for the older males was not a result of lower mating effort, and reproductive output in 2013 was not predicted by total prior reproductive success. Our results provide novel evidence of post-copulatory reproductive senescence in high-ranking male nonhuman primates.
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Project description:One hundred ninety wildtype male C57BL/6J mice age 7-10 weeks were purchased from Jackson Laboratory and entrained to a 12:12 light:dark cycle for 2 weeks. Mice were placed in light-tight boxes on a 12:12 LD cycle for 4 weeks, then released into constant darkness. Starting 30 hours after entry into DD (CT18), tissues from 5 (skeletal muscle) or 10 (liver or SCN) wildtype mice were collected every 4 hours for 48 hours, for a total of 12 timepoints. At timepoints 34 through 58 hours in DD, tissues from age-matched male C57BL/6J Clock/Clock homozygous mutant mice that had been treated with the same light entrainment protocol as the wildtype were collected. Tissues were collected from 5 Clock/Clock mutants at each timepoint except for 34 and 46 hours after the onset of DD, when tissues from 10 Clock/Clock mice were collected and run as independent replicates. Mice were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, and the optic nerves were severed in complete darkness; brain dissection was performed using illumination from an infrared viewer (FJW Industries, Palatine, IL). SCNs were dissected out, pooled at a density of 5 per tube in 100 ul RNAlater (Ambion, Austin, TX), frozen on dry ice, and stored at â80 degrees C until use. Keywords: SuperSeries This reference Series links data in the following related Series: GSE3746 Circadian skeletal muscle_wt and Clock mutants GSE3748 Circadian liver_wt and Clock mutants
2010-06-12 | E-GEOD-3751 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Circadian rhythms regulate many physiological and behavioral processes, including sleep, metabolism and cell division, which have a 24-h oscillation pattern. Rhythmicity is generated by a transcriptional-translational feedback loop in individual cells, which are synchronized by the central pacemaker in the brain and external cues. Epidemiological and clinical studies indicate that disruption of these rhythms can increase both tumorigenesis and cancer progression. Environmental changes (shift work, jet lag, exposure to light at night), mutations in circadian regulating genes, and changes to clock gene expression are recognized forms of disruption and are associated with cancer risk and/or cancer progression. Experimental data in animals and cell cultures further supports the role of the cellular circadian clock in coordinating cell division and DNA repair, and disrupted cellular clocks accelerate cancer cell growth. This review will summarize studies linking circadian disruption to cancer biology and explore how such disruptions may be further altered by common characteristics of tumors including hypoxia and acidosis. We will highlight how circadian rhythms might be exploited for cancer drug development, including how delivery of current chemotherapies may be enhanced using chronotherapy. Understanding the role of circadian rhythms in carcinogenesis and tumor progression will enable us to better understand causes of cancer and how to treat them.
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Project description:Hibernation is a fascinating, yet enigmatic, physiological phenomenon during which body temperature and metabolism are reduced to save energy. During the harsh season, this strategy allows substantial energy saving by reducing body temperature and metabolism. Accordingly, biological processes are considerably slowed down and reduced to a minimum. However, the persistence of a temperature-compensated, functional biological clock in hibernating mammals has long been debated. Here, we show that the master circadian clock no longer displays 24-h molecular oscillations in hibernating European hamsters. The clock genes Per1, Per2, and Bmal1 and the clock-controlled gene arginine vasopressin were constantly expressed in the suprachiasmatic nucleus during deep torpor, as assessed by radioactive in situ hybridization. Finally, the melatonin rhythm-generating enzyme, arylalkylamine N-acetyltransferase, whose rhythmic expression in the pineal gland is controlled by the master circadian clock, no longer exhibits day/night changes of expression but constantly elevated mRNA levels over 24 h. Overall, these data provide strong evidence that in the European hamster the molecular circadian clock is arrested during hibernation and stops delivering rhythmic output signals.
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Project description:Tetanus was a major cause of mortality in the free-ranging population of rhesus monkeys on Cayo Santiago prior to 1985 when the entire colony was given its first dose of tetanus toxoid. The immediate reduction in mortality that followed tetanus toxoid inoculation (TTI) has been documented, but the long-term demographic effects of eliminating tetanus infections have not. This study uses the Cayo Santiago demographic database to construct comparative life tables 12 years before, and 12 years after, TTI. Life tables and matrix projection models are used to test for differences in: (i) survival among all individuals as well as among social groups, (ii) long-term fitness of the population, (iii) age distribution, (iv) reproductive value, and (v) life expectancy. A retrospective life table response experiment (LTRE) was performed to determine which life cycle transition contributed most to observed changes in long-term fitness of the population post-TTI. Elimination of clinical tetanus infections through mass inoculation improved the health and well-being of the monkeys. It also profoundly affected the population by increasing survivorship and long-term fitness, decreasing the differences in survival rates among social groups, shifting the population's age distribution towards older individuals, and increasing reproductive value and life expectancy. These findings are significant because they demonstrate the long-term effects of eradicating a major cause of mortality at a single point in time on survival, reproduction, and overall demography of a naturalistic population of primates.
| S-EPMC4308566 | biostudies-literature
Project description:One hundred ninety wildtype male C57BL/6J mice age 7-10 weeks were purchased from Jackson Laboratory and entrained to a 12:12 light:dark cycle for 2 weeks. Mice were placed in light-tight boxes on a 12:12 LD cycle for 4 weeks, then released into constant darkness. Starting 30 hours after entry into DD (CT18), tissues from 5 (skeletal muscle) or 10 (liver or SCN) wildtype mice were collected every 4 hours for 48 hours, for a total of 12 timepoints. At timepoints 34 through 58 hours in DD, tissues from age-matched male C57BL/6J Clock/Clock homozygous mutant mice that had been treated with the same light entrainment protocol as the wildtype were collected. Tissues were collected from 5 Clock/Clock mutants at each timepoint except for 34 and 46 hours after the onset of DD, when tissues from 10 Clock/Clock mice were collected and run as independent replicates. Mice were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, and the optic nerves were severed in complete darkness; brain dissection was performed using illumination from an infrared viewer (FJW Industries, Palatine, IL). SCNs were dissected out, pooled at a density of 5 per tube in 100 ul RNAlater (Ambion, Austin, TX), frozen on dry ice, and stored at –80 degrees C until use. This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
2007-02-07 | GSE3751 | GEO
Project description:Cayo Santiago is the oldest continuously operating free-ranging rhesus monkey colony in the world. Population control of this colony has historically been carried out by periodic live capture and removal of animals. However, the effect of such a strategy on the size, growth rate, age structure, and sex ratio of the population has not been analyzed. This study reviews past removal data and uses a population projection model to simulate the effects of different removal schemes based on Cayo Santiago demographic data from 2000-2012. The model incorporates negative density-dependence in female fertility, as well as male and female survival rates, to determine the population-level effects of selective removal by age and sex. Modeling revealed that removal of sexually immature individuals has negligible effects on the population dynamics explaining why with an initial population of 1309 in 2000 and annual removals of immature monkeys a mean annual population growth rate of 12% and a final population size of ?1,435 individuals by 2012 (?0.009?animal/m(2) ) was observed. With no removals, the population is expected to exhibit dampened oscillations until reaching equilibrium at ?1,690 individuals (?0.0111?animal/m(2) ) in 2,100. In contrast, removal of adult females (?4 yrs) would significantly reduce the population size, but would also promote an increase in population growth rate due to density feedback. A maximum annual production of 275 births is expected when 550 adult females are present in the population. Sensitivity analyses showed that removing females, in contrast to controlling their fertility through invasive treatments would contribute the most to changes in population growth rate. Given the density compensation on fertility, stabilizing the population would require removing ?80% of the current population of adult females. This study highlights the importance of addressing the population-level density effects, as well as sensitivity analyses, to optimize management strategies.
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Project description:To analyze in severely obese women the circadian expression of the clock genes hPer2, hBmal1, and hCry1 in explants from subcutaneous (SAT) and visceral (VAT) adipose tissue (AT), in order to elucidate whether this circadian clockwork can oscillate accurately and independently of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and if glucocorticoid metabolism-related genes such as glucocorticoid receptor (hGr) and 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 1 (h11 beta Hsd1) and the transcription factor peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (hPPAR gamma) are part of the clock controlled genes. AT biopsies were obtained from morbid obese patients (BMI > or =40 kg/m(2)) (n = 7). Anthropometric variables were measured and fasting plasma lipids and lipoprotein concentrations were analyzed. In order to carry out rhythmic expression analysis, AT explants were cultured during 24 h and gene expression was performed at the following times (T): 0, 6, 12, and 18 h, with quantitative real-time PCR. Clock genes oscillated accurately and independently of the SCN in AT explants. Their intrinsic oscillatory mechanism regulated the timing of other genes such as hPPAR gamma and glucocorticoid-related genes. Circadian patterns differed between VAT and SAT. Correlation analyses between the genetic circadian oscillation and components of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) revealed that subjects with a higher sagittal diameter showed an increased circadian variability in hPer2 expression (r = 0.91; P = 0.031) and hBmal1 (r = 0.90; P = 0.040). Data demonstrate the presence of peripheral circadian oscillators in human AT independently of the central circadian control mechanism. This knowledge paves the way for a better understanding of the circadian contribution to medical conditions such as obesity and MetS.
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