[Assessment of the biological age in the animal-experiment (author's transl)]

Experimental investigations of internal and external factors presumably influencing the aging process require an objective assessment of the biological age or vitality respectively by means of as many age parameters as possible. Using the rat, a valuable test animal in experimental gerontology, whose life expectancy of about 40 month allows longitudinal studies, a standard test programm for the estimation of the biological age has been developed. The age parameters used originate from investigations of 1. the tail tendon collagen, 2. the skin, 3. the aorta, 4. the ECG, 5. the lipofuscin content of brain and heart, 6. the tissue respiration of various organs, 7, the motor activity and 8. learning and memory. Using the above-mentioned age parameters a statistical measure for the biological age will be calculated by means of multivariate analysis and will allow the comparison of differeent age-and experimental-groups.