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Accommodative function in rhesus monkeys: effects of aging and calorie restriction
J A Mattison1, M A Croft, D B Dahl
1Laboratory of Experimental Gerontology, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224 USA.
Age (Dordrecht, Netherlands)
|April 20, 2013
Summary
Calorie restriction (CR) did not significantly alter age-related declines in rhesus monkey accommodation or lens thickness. This study suggests the accommodative system may not benefit from long-term CR, despite its known lifespan-extending effects.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Aging Research
- Primate Studies
Background:
- Age-related visual decline includes loss of accommodation, potentially due to lens hardening or ciliary muscle changes.
- Rhesus monkeys are a valid model for studying age-related ocular changes, including accommodation loss.
- Calorie restriction (CR) extends lifespan in rodents and shows benefits in nonhuman primates.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess age-related changes in ocular accommodation in rhesus monkeys.
- To investigate the long-term effects (>8 years) of CR on accommodation in male and female rhesus monkeys.
Main Methods:
- Measured refraction, accommodation, and lens thickness in 97 rhesus monkeys (ages 8-36 years).
- Induced maximum accommodation using carbachol corneal iontophoresis.
- Compared a control (CON) group (fed ad libitum) with a CR group (30% calorie reduction) over 8-12 years.
Main Results:
- Accommodative ability declined with age in both CON and CR groups (1.03-1.18 diopters/year), with no significant difference between groups.
- Baseline lens thickness increased with age in both groups, but the rate of increase was not significantly different between CON and CR.
- No significant differences were found in the age-related changes of accommodation, lens thickness, or refraction between the CR and CON groups.
Conclusions:
- Long-term calorie restriction did not prevent or mitigate age-related accommodative decline in rhesus monkeys.
- The findings suggest that the primate accommodative system may not benefit from calorie restriction.
- These results align with known age-dependent accommodative decrease in both monkeys and humans.
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