Abstract
Finding biomarkers to assess the rate of ageing and consequently, to forecast individual lifespan is a challenge in ageing research. We recently published a mathematical model for lifespan prediction in adult female mice using behavioural parameters such as internal locomotion and time spent in open arms in the hole board (HB) and elevated plus maze (EPM) tests, respectively. Nevertheless, it is still not known if these behavioural variables could be useful in forecasting lifespan in male mice. Therefore, two groups of ICR-CD1 mice, male and female were subjected to the EPM, HB and T-maze tests at the adult age. Mice were monitored until they died and individual lifespans were registered. In general, adult male mice showed more anxiety-like behaviours than females. The mathematical model previously developed in females was validated with the female cohort, but found to be suboptimal for lifespan prediction in males. Thus, a new model for male lifespan prediction was constructed including the behavioural variables that were predictive of lifespan in males: time in the central platform of the EPM, inner locomotion, number of groomings and number and duration of head-dippings in the HB. These results confirm that the higher the anxiety-like behaviour at the adult age, the shorter the lifespan.
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This work was supported by grants of FIS (PI15/01787) from the ISCIII-FEDER of the European Union and of UCM-Research Group.
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HK and IMT performed the material collection, analysed and interpreted the generated data and drafted the manuscript. LSM gave insight and supervised the mathematical model construction, and revised the manuscript. MDF conceived and design this study, funded the project and critically supervised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Kobayashi, H., Martínez de Toda, I., Sanz-San Miguel, L. et al. Sex-related differences in behavioural markers in adult mice for the prediction of lifespan. Biogerontology 22, 49–62 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-020-09902-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-020-09902-x