Age-related decline in motor behavior and striatal dopamine transporter in cynomolgus monkeys

Advanced human aging is associated with progressive declines of motor function and a risk factor for Parkinson's disease, which mainly involves central nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. The present study investigated age-related changes in motor behaviors and alterations of the number of nigrostriatal dopaminergic terminals in non-human primates. A total of 30 cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) of age 3.5-15.5 years were studied. Motor behaviors including upper limb movement time and the amount of overall home cage activity were quantitatively assessed using a modified movement assessment panel and a newly developed webcam-based monitoring system. The function of the dopaminergic system was semi-quantitatively measured by (99m)Tc-TRODAT-1 uptake rates, a dopamine transporter (DAT) specific radiopharmaceutical with SPECT imaging. The results showed a significant decline in motor behaviors associated with aging which were significantly correlated with age-related decreases of (99m)Tc-TRODAT-1 uptake. A further partial correlation analysis independent of age indicated that age contributed to the relationship between striatal DAT levels and motor behaviors. Our results indicate that normal aging-related dopamine physiology influences certain aspects of motor behaviors and suggest that aging-associated dysfunction in the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system may be an important factor contributing to the decline of motor behaviors in aging cynomolgus monkeys.