Brief communication: Adrenal androgens and aging: Female chimpanzees (<i>Pan troglodytes</i>) compared with women

Blevins, James K.; Coxworth, James E.; Herndon, James G.; Hawkes, Kristen

doi:10.1002/ajpa.22300

Cited by 23 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…But young adult DHEAS levels are three times as high in women as in chimpanzee females. Only as women reach their late sixties do levels fall to the chimpanzee maximum . Consistent with the proposition that increased production of DHEAS is one mechanism that slowed aging in our lineage, circulating DHEAS levels are even lower in the other great apes .…”

Section: Physiological Findingsmentioning

confidence: 57%

Grandmothers and the evolution of human longevity: A review of findings and future directions

Hawkes¹,

Coxworth²

2013

Evolutionary Anthropology

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148

118

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Women and female great apes both continue giving birth into their forties, but not beyond. However humans live much longer than other apes do. Even in hunting and gathering societies, where the mortality rate is high, adult life spans average twice those of chimpanzees, which become decrepit during their fertile years and rarely survive them. Since women usually remain healthy through and beyond childbearing age, human communities include substantial proportions of economically productive postmenopausal women. A grandmother hypothesis(8-12) may explain why greater longevity evolved in our lineage while female fertility still ends at ancestral ages. This hypothesis has implications for the evolution of a wide array of human features. Here we review some history of the hypothesis, recent findings, and questions for ongoing research.

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Section: Physiological Findingsmentioning

confidence: 57%

Grandmothers and the evolution of human longevity: A review of findings and future directions

Hawkes¹,

Coxworth²

2013

Evolutionary Anthropology

Self Cite

148

118

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“…We have noted that there appears to be narrowing of the zona reticularis but not the zona fasiculata/glomerulosa in the human adrenal during aging (Dharia et al, 2005; Parker et al, 1997) that may contribute to the striking adrenal androgen deficiency seen in humans during aging. Recently, Blevins et al, 2013 have provided evidence for gradual reductions in circulating levels of DHEA sulfate in the aging chimpanzee; these changes, however, are not as striking as that noted in the human. Whether such reductions in the chimpanzee, (or in the rhesus and baboon) during aging can be attributed to morphologic changes in the adrenal will require further study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Development of adrenal cortical zonation and expression of key elements of adrenal androgen production in the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) from birth to adulthood

Parker

Grizzle

Blevins

et al. 2014

Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology

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The basis for the pattern of adrenal androgen production in the chimpanzee, which resembles that of humans, is poorly defined. We characterized the developmental zonation and expression of elements of the androgen biosynthetic pathway in the chimpanzee adrenal. The newborn adrenal contained a broad fetal zone (FZ) expressing CYP17, SULT2A1, and Cytochrome b5 (CB5) but not HSD3B; the outer cortex expressed HSD3B but not SULT2A1 or CB5. During infancy, the FZ involuted and the HSD3B-expressing outer cortex broadened. By 3 years of age, a thin layer of cells that expressed CB5, SULT2A1, and CYP17 adjoined the medulla and likely represented the zona reticularis; the outer cortex consisted of distinct zonae fasiculata and glomerulosa. Thereafter, the zona reticularis broadened as also occurs in the human. The adult chimpanzee adrenal displayed other human-like characteristics: intramedullary clusters of reticularis-like cells and also a cortical cuff of zona fasiculata-like cells adjoining the central vein.

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“…Compared to chimpanzees, human serum levels of DHEAS decline more rapidly with age, but overall concentrations are two-to-three times higher in humans at any age, and only begin to drop into the high end of the chimpanzee range at ages older than 65 years (Blevins et al 2013). Other great ape species exhibit even lower DHEAS concentrations (Bernstein et al 2012), consistent with the idea that higher human levels have evolved since our split with the apes and promote a unique, extended period of somatic viability.…”

Section: Mechanisms For Extension Of the Somatic Lifespanmentioning

confidence: 96%

Postmenopausal Health and Disease from the Perspective of Evolutionary Medicine

Froehle

2013

A&A

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Anyone seeking to learn more about the subject of menopause 1 will find standard clinical and public health policy interpretations readily and prominently available. A simple Internet search for the word "menopause" returns numerous websites from reputable online medical resources 2 , all of which provide roughly the same, narrow definition: menopause is the complete cessation of menstruation, and occurs twelve months after the final menstrual period, usually between 45-55 years of age. Along with these definitions, much of the accompanying health information addresses symptoms, risk for associated diseases, and treatment options. This information fits the overall medical paradigm that menopause is not simply Epidemiological evidence indeed shows that the period surrounding and following menopause is associated with an increased prevalence of disease and disease risk factors, particularly those relating to the metabolic syndrome including weight gain, body composition change, obesity, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and insulin resistance, all of which increase risk for heart attack, stroke, and type 2 diabetes (Torrens et al. 2009;Enns and Tiidus 2010). In the AbstractMenopause normally occurs between 45-55 years of age, marks the end of a woman's reproductive lifespan, and is accompanied by a reduction in estrogen that has substantial physiological effects. The standard medical view is that these changes underlie high postmenopausal disease rates, defining menopause as an estrogen deficiency condition needing treatment. This view stems from the idea that extended postmenopausal longevity is a consequence of recent technological developments, such that women now outlive their evolutionarily-programmed physiological functional lifespan. Increasingly, however, researchers employing an evolutionary medicine framework have used data from comparative demography, comparative biology, and human behavioral ecology to challenge the mainstream medical view. Instead, these data suggest that a two-decade human postmenopausal lifespan is an evolved, species-typical trait that distinguishes humans from other primates, and has deep roots in our evolutionary past. This view rejects the inevitability of high rates of postmenopausal disease and the concept of menopause as pathology. Rather, high postmenopausal disease risk likely stems from specific lifestyle differences between industrialized societies and foraging societies of the type that dominated human evolutionary history. Women in industrialized societies tend to have higher estrogen levels during premenopausal life, and experience a greater reduction in estrogen across menopause than do women living in foraging societies, with potentially important physiological consequences. The anthropological approach to understanding postmenopausal disease risk reframes the postmenopausal lifespan as an integral period in the human lifecycle, and offers alternative avenues for disease prevention by highlighting the importance of lifestyle effects on health.

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Brief communication: Adrenal androgens and aging: Female chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) compared with women

Cited by 23 publications

References 90 publications

Grandmothers and the evolution of human longevity: A review of findings and future directions

Grandmothers and the evolution of human longevity: A review of findings and future directions

Development of adrenal cortical zonation and expression of key elements of adrenal androgen production in the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) from birth to adulthood

Postmenopausal Health and Disease from the Perspective of Evolutionary Medicine

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