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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #423525
Research Project: Metabolic and Molecular Mechanisms of Healthspan

Location: Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging

Title: The companion dog as a model for inflammaging: a cross-sectional pilot study

Author
item SCHMID, SARAH - University Of Tennessee
item HOFFMAN, JESSICA - Augusta University
item PRESCOTT, JENA - Texas A&M University
item ERNST, HOLLEY - Texas A&M University
item PROMISLOW, DANIEL - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University
item CREEVY, KATE - Texas A&M University

Submitted to: GeroScience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/21/2024
Publication Date: 6/1/2024
Citation: Schmid, S.M., Hoffman, J.M., Prescott, J., Ernst, H., Promislow, D., Creevy, K.E. 2024. The companion dog as a model for inflammaging: a cross-sectional pilot study. GeroScience. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-024-01217-w.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-024-01217-w

Interpretive Summary: Inflammation is a process that happens in our bodies in response to injury or infection. As people get older, their bodies can start to show signs of chronic inflammation, a condition sometimes called inflammaging. This ongoing inflammation is linked to health problems in older humans, and often is associated with higher levels of inflammation markers in the blood. While there have been lots of studies on inflammaging in people, fewer studies have looked at how it affects dogs, and most of those studies focused on just one breed. In this study, researchers examined blood samples from healthy dogs of different breeds, all part of the Dog Aging Project, a nationwide study of aging in thousands of companion dogs. The researchers wanted to see how age and other factors might affect inflammation. The scientists measured different markers of inflammaging in the dogs' blood, and overall the results were similar to what has been seen in humans. This shows that studying aging in dogs can help us learn more about aging in people too.

Technical Abstract: Inflammaging, the chronic, progressive proinflammatory state associated with aging, has been associated with multiple negative health outcomes in humans. The pathophysiology of inflammaging is complex; however, it is often characterized by high serum concentrations of inflammatory mediators such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a), interleukin (IL)-6, and C-reactive protein (CRP). Few studies have evaluated the effects of age on inflammatory cytokines in companion dogs, and most of these studies included dogs of a single breed. In this cross-sectional study, we measured multiple circulating inflammatory markers and hematological parameters in banked serum samples from 47 healthy companion dogs of various breeds enrolled in the Dog Aging Project. Using univariate linear models, we investigated the association of each of these markers with age, sex, body weight, and body condition score (BCS), a measure of obesity in the dog. Serum IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-a concentrations were all positively associated with age. Lymphocyte count was negatively associated with age. Platelet count had a negative association with body weight. IL-2, albumin, cholesterol, triglyceride, bilirubin, S100A12, and NMH concentrations were not associated with age, weight, BCS, or sex after adjustment for multiple comparisons. Our findings replicate previous findings in humans, including increases in IL-6 and TNF-a with age, giving more evidence to the strength of the companion dog as a model for human aging.