AGING AND DISEASE

PSYCH 118
Tuesday, June 4, 13

June 4, 2013

SENESCENCE

Senescence: an age-specic decline in survival. Senescence is occurring if the probability of dying - or reproducing fewer or lesshealthy offspring per year - increases with increasing age. Example: Red deer reproductive rates on Rum Island in Scotland (Nussey et al. 2006)

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DO WILD ANIMALS SENESCE?

Yes. Example: Comparative senescence in wild mammals Promislow (1991) 49 species of mammal in 56 populations Evidence of senescence in 46 populations There is a tradeoff between the timing of senescence and intensity of reproductive effort Males may senesce earlier and more rapidly than females, perhaps due to energetic investments in male-male competition

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EVOLUTION OF SENESCENCE

The Antagonistic

Pleiotropy Model

The

Disposable Soma Model

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ANTAGONISTIC PLEIOTROPY

Pleiotropy: when a gene has more than one effect on an organism. George Williams (1957) Natural selection should act more strongly early in life (can have more impact on reproductive career). Antagonistic pleiotropy occurs when a gene is selected for early in life due to some benet, but also causes a detriment later in life.

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ANTAGONISTIC PLEIOTROPY

Example: Abnormal abdomen gene in fruit ies (Drosophila), Templeton et al. 1985 Causes juvenile cuticle to remain into adulthood Causes early ovarian development and oviposition (early good!) Also decreases longevity and speeds up senescence (later bad!)

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DISPOSABLE SOMA THEORY

Longevity and senescence can have a complex relationship. Kirkwood (1977) Bodies shift resources to reproduction from other systems (which subsequently fall into disrepair). Not mutually exclusive from antagonistic pleiotropy Longevity should be lower in:

Species that make large investments in traits that are related to reproduction The sex that invests the most in reproduction

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DISPOSABLE SOMA THEORY

Example: Disposable soma theory in humans, Lycett et al. 2000 16,500 families in Germany from 1720-1870, divided into 3 economic strata Predictions:

Married women should have shorter lifespans than nonmarried (nope) A negative relationship between lifespan and fecundity (nope)

Control for duration of marriage...

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DISPOSABLE SOMA THEORY

Example: Disposable soma theory in tsetse ies, Clutton-Brock and Langley 1997 Does simply having mated change longevity? No. Sex ratio, on the other hand...

When females in the minority, F lifespan reduced When males in the minority, M lifespan reduced

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PROXIMATE MECHANISMS OF AGING

Glucocorticoids, Sapolsky: the

stress, and aging

effects of stress and chronic high glucocorticoid levels in animals (and humans) mimic those of aging mechanisms may be similar

Proximate Stress

and aging in the hippocampus: disrupted hippocampaldependent learning, inhibited nerve growth, neuron repair failure, facilitated neuron death

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PROXIMATE MECHANISMS OF AGING

Heat-shock proteins and aging Heat-shock proteins are activated by heat, and act to minimize stress damage by neutralizing other heat-warped proteins There is a strong relationship between senescence and the efciency of heatshock protein systems Tatar et al. 1997: tested resilience to stress in fruit ies in relation to heat-shock proteins Added 12 extra copies of heat-shock protein in a strain of ies. When exposed to heat shock at 4 days old, the modied strain had lower mortality rates over time.

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DISEASE AND ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

Diseases There

are ubiquitous and rapidly evolving

are behavioral mediations that animals can do to reduce susceptibility to disease

Avoid areas that contain disease-causing agents Avoid sick conspecics Self-medicate

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AVOIDANCE OF DISEASEFILLED HABITATS

One way is to only produce offspring in areas with a low probability of infection (from, e.g., parasites) Example: Oviposition and environmental parasite levels in gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor), Kiesecker & Skelly 2000 Frogs share ponds with a snail that is host to a trematode parasite

Do ovipositing frogs distinguish between sites based on snail presence as a proxy for parasite presence? Do frogs respond to the density of snails?

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AVOIDANCE OF DISEASEFILLED HABITATS

Kiesecker & Skelly set up 25 articial ponds with 5 treatments:

no snails (control) 5 infected snails 5 uninfected snails 10 infected snails 10 uninfected snails

66.1% of all eggs laid in the control pond Ponds with uninfected snails got 33.5% Ponds with infected snails only got 0.4%!

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AVOIDANCE OF DISEASED INDIVIDUALS

In bullfrogs (Rana catesbeina), the intestinal pathogen Candida humicola can spread quickly, hamper reproduction, and kill Tadpoles in close contact with infected individuals are likely to become infected Kiesecker et al. 1999: Do uninfected tadpoles avoid infected individuals? How do they know?

Tuesday, June 4, 13

AVOIDANCE OF DISEASED INDIVIDUALS

Researchers put two tadpoles in an arena:

Stimulus: 2 tadpoles placed on either side of an arena, 1infected with C.humicola and 1not Focal: placed in center of arena, then quantify how much time it spends near which tadpole

Uninfected focals preferred uninfected stimuli Infected focals showed no preference Quarantine behavior was entirely dependent upon disease status! Disease status was discerned via chemical cues

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SELF-MEDICATION

Two

broad categories:

Preventative Therapeutic

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PREVENTATIVE SELFMEDICATION

Animals add anti-bacterial substances to their nests

Swallows that add fresh herbs to their nest have lower mite loads

Eating clay, dirt, and rocks (geophagy) may be selfmedication

No nutritional value, but may aid in indigestion, anti-diarrhea, and may absorb plant toxins

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FUR RUBBING AND ANTING

Anting: crush ants and rub them into feathers. Formic acid secreted by ants soothes skin and kills parasites (also seen in squirrels and primates). http://www.youtube.com/v/314HtWIOps In capuchins it most often occurs during the dry season (when ticks are most prevalent) and it reduces the number of ticks (Verderane et al. 2007)

Tuesday, June 4, 13

FUR RUBBING AND ANTING

Fur rubbing: instead of rubbing ants, they bite acidic fruits, herbs, millipedes, noxious saps and then rub the saliva mixture into their fur. Can be a social behavior. Most rubbing items have anti-microbial effects

Tuesday, June 4, 13

LEAF SWALLOWING

Example: Leaf swallowing and tapeworms in chimpanzees, Wrangham 1995 During 7-month tapeworm season, chimps swallowed leaves more often (although its unclear if it is an effective treatment Neighboring groups have converged on the same leaves during tapeworm season... individual learning, or cultural transmission of self-medication?

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SPICY FOOD AS SELFMEDICATION

Before freezers, how might humans have fought food-bourne disease? Billing & Sherman: Examined 43 spices in meat-based cuisines from 4,578 recipes in 30 countries There was no correlation between spice use and availability, nutritional value, odors, or perspiration All 43 spices examined DID have some antimicrobial properties As mean annual temperature increased - along with the potential for meat to spoil rapidly - so did spice use, especially use of the most potently anti-microbial spices!

Tuesday, June 4, 13