Nutrition, metabolism, and targeting aging in nonhuman primates

Abstract

This short review focuses on the importance of nonhuman primate nutrition and aging studies and makes the case that a targeted expansion of the use of this highly translatable model would be advantageous to the biology of aging field. First, we describe the high degree of similarity of the model in terms of aging phenotypes including incidence and prevalence of common human age-related diseases. Second, we discuss the importance of the nonhuman primate nutrition and aging studies and the extent to which the outcomes of two ongoing long-term studies of caloric restriction are congruent with short-term equivalent studies in humans. Third, we showcase a number of pharmacological agents previously employed in nonhuman primate studies that display some potential as caloric restriction mimetics. Finally, we present nonhuman primates as an important model for translation of mechanisms of delayed aging identified in studies of shorter-lived animals. Proof of efficacy and safety of candidate longevity agents in nonhuman primates would be a cost-effective means to bring these exciting new avenues a step closer to clinical application.

Keywords: Aging; Caloric restriction; Mimetics; Nonhuman primates; Nutrition; Translational research.

Figure 1

Target pathways and processes for putative CR mimetic agents resveratrol, rapamycin, PPAR agonists, and FGF21. Apart from rapamycin, nuclear receptor activation and mitochondrial activation are shared outcomes of treatments. Key signaling molecules include AMPK, SIRT1, PGC-1a, and mTOR, all of which have been associated with regulation of longevity in the context of CR.