Brain age gap is associated with cognitive abilities in captive chimpanzees

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Comparative Cognition
• Aging Research

Background:

• Brain age gap, the difference between chronological and brain age, is a biomarker for aging pace in humans, influenced by genetics and environment.
• Previous research has established brain age gap in humans using neuroimaging, but its applicability in non-human primates was unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if brain age gap can be estimated from neuroimaging data in chimpanzees.
• To investigate the association between brain age gap and cognitive and motor phenotypes in chimpanzees.

Main Methods:

• Utilized archived neuroimaging data (cortical thickness, surface area) from 215 chimpanzees.
• Computed brain age gap values using computational models.
• Assessed the correlation between brain age gap and individual variation in cognition and motor function.

Main Results:

• The average brain age gap in chimpanzees was approximately 6 years, comparable to human studies.
• Chimpanzees with "older" brain ages exhibited poorer cognitive performance than those with "younger" brains, after accounting for sex and rearing.
• Brain age gap was found to be sensitive to individual differences in cognition.

Conclusions:

• Brain age gap serves as a valid biomarker for brain aging in chimpanzees.
• This finding extends the utility of brain age gap as a measure sensitive to cognitive variation across species.
• The study highlights the potential for cross-species comparisons in understanding aging processes.