TY - JOUR
T1 - Different macaque models of cognitive aging exhibit task-dependent behavioral disparities
AU - Comrie, Alison E.
AU - Gray, Daniel T.
AU - Smith, Anne C.
AU - Barnes, Carol A.
N1 - Funding Information:
Thanks to Kojo Plange, Sara Burke, Michele Permenter, Julie Vogt, Mary Roberts, Carmel Stanko, Tracy Ojakangas Deborah Kent, Lisa Novak, and Sania Fong for macaque behavioral training, Peter Rapp for support, and Wonn Pyon and Katherine Andersh for assistance with data entry. Additional thanks to Luann Snyder, Michelle Albert, and Michelle Carroll for administrative assistance. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health [ R01 AG003376 , R01 AG050548 , P51 RR000169, F31 AG055263 ], the McKnight Brain Research Foundation , and the University of Arizona . Appendix A
PY - 2018/5/15
Y1 - 2018/5/15
N2 - Deficits in cognitive functions that rely on the integrity of the frontal and temporal lobes are characteristic of normative human aging. Due to similar aging phenotypes and homologous cortical organization between nonhuman primates and humans, several species of macaque monkeys are used as models to explore brain senescence. These macaque species are typically regarded as equivalent models of cognitive aging, yet no direct comparisons have been made to support this assumption. Here we used adult and aged rhesus and bonnet macaques (Macaca mulatta and Macaca radiata) to characterize the effect of age on acquisition and retention of information across delays in a battery of behavioral tasks that rely on prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobe networks. The cognitive functions that were tested include visuospatial short-term memory, object recognition memory, and object-reward association memory. In general, bonnet macaques at all ages outperformed rhesus macaques on tasks thought to rely primarily on the prefrontal cortex, and were more resilient to age-related deficits in these behaviors. On the other hand, both species were comparably impaired by age on tasks thought to preferentially engage the medial temporal lobe. Together, these results suggest that rhesus and bonnet macaques are not equivalent models of cognitive aging and highlight the value of cross-species comparisons. These observations should enable improved design and interpretation of future experiments aimed at understanding changes in cognition across the lifespan.
AB - Deficits in cognitive functions that rely on the integrity of the frontal and temporal lobes are characteristic of normative human aging. Due to similar aging phenotypes and homologous cortical organization between nonhuman primates and humans, several species of macaque monkeys are used as models to explore brain senescence. These macaque species are typically regarded as equivalent models of cognitive aging, yet no direct comparisons have been made to support this assumption. Here we used adult and aged rhesus and bonnet macaques (Macaca mulatta and Macaca radiata) to characterize the effect of age on acquisition and retention of information across delays in a battery of behavioral tasks that rely on prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobe networks. The cognitive functions that were tested include visuospatial short-term memory, object recognition memory, and object-reward association memory. In general, bonnet macaques at all ages outperformed rhesus macaques on tasks thought to rely primarily on the prefrontal cortex, and were more resilient to age-related deficits in these behaviors. On the other hand, both species were comparably impaired by age on tasks thought to preferentially engage the medial temporal lobe. Together, these results suggest that rhesus and bonnet macaques are not equivalent models of cognitive aging and highlight the value of cross-species comparisons. These observations should enable improved design and interpretation of future experiments aimed at understanding changes in cognition across the lifespan.
KW - Bonnet macaques
KW - Object recognition memory
KW - Object-reward association memory
KW - Rhesus macaques
KW - Visuospatial short-term memory
KW - WGTA
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U2 - 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.02.008
DO - 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.02.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 29432794
AN - SCOPUS:85042228835
VL - 344
SP - 110
EP - 119
JO - Behavioural Brain Research
JF - Behavioural Brain Research
SN - 0166-4328
ER -