The Age of Biosenescence and the Incidence of Cerebral β‐Amyloidosis in Aged Captive Rhesus Monkeys a
Abstract
Autopsy surveillance of 186 rhesus monkeys aged 20 to 36 years revealed that development of major geriatric diseases such as emphysema, coronary sclerosis, and cancer increased rapidly after the age of 25 years, and nearly 70% of the monkeys in each cohort group died by 30 years. According to our 12‐year longitudinal survey, the age of biosenescence in captive rhesus monkeys begins around 25 years and the maximum longevity is 36 years. The incidence of cerebral β‐amyloidosis associated with plaque formation and cerebral angiopathy was observed in 51 brains of rhesus monkeys aged 25 to 36 years. Lesions were found in 31 of 51 aged brains (60%) and 6 monkeys over 34 years of age were all severely affected. Despite the size of the plaque, nearly all of them showed immunopositive β‐amyloid. Cerebral angiopathy coexisted in 10 of 31 plaque‐positive brains. The basal prefrontal gyms was the most common site and contained the highest density of plaques, followed by the amygdala region. The amyloid in the liver, spleen, adrenal and pancreatic islets in visceral amyloidosis showed no positivity to the β‐amyloid demonstrated in the brain. As in aged human brains, the incidence of age‐dependent cerebral β‐amyloidosis in captive rhesus monkeys showed great individual variation.
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The two largest studies examining the presence of plaques in rhesus monkeys found that approximately 40% of aged animals (25-31 years) did not have any evidence of plaques or CAA after death of natural causes.
“The two largest studies examining the presence of plaques in rhesus monkeys found that approximately 40% of aged animals (25–31 years) did not have any evidence of plaques or CAA after death of natural causes [164, 165].”
From Alzheimer's disease: experimental models and reality (2017) · cites this paper as [165]
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- Authors
- UNO, H., & WALKER, L. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Corresponding author
- UNO, H.
- ORCID
- WALKER, L. C.
- Venue
- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1993-09
- Volume
- 695
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 232-235
- ISSN
- 0077-8923 (ISSN-L)
- 1749-6632
- OpenAlex
- W2150501036
- Cited by
- 57
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Research Resources (RR 00167, P51RR000167)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Keywords
- rhesus monkeys, amyloid plaques, cerebral angiopathy, aging, longevity, geriatric diseases, emphysema, coronary sclerosis, cancer, amygdala
- MeSH terms
- Aging, Animals, Animals, Laboratory, Brain, Longitudinal Studies, Macaca mulatta, Monkey Diseases, Amyloid beta-Peptides, Neurites, Amyloid beta-Protein Precursor, Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy
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