Early-Life Experiences and Telomere Length in Adult Rhesus Monkeys: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Objective Child rearing environments have been associated with morbidity in adult rhesus monkeys. We examine whether such links are also seen with leukocyte telomere length. Methods To determine telomere length in leukocytes, blood was collected from 11 adult females aged seven to ten years who had been exposed to different rearing environments between birth and seven months. Four had been reared with their mothers in typical social groups comprised of other females, their offspring, and 1–2 adult males. The other seven had been reared in either small groups of peers or in individual cages with extensive peer interaction daily. After seven months, all shared a common environment. Results Telomere lengths were longer for those adults who had been reared with their mothers in social groups (median = 16.0 kb, interquartile range = 16.5–15.4) than for those who were reared without their mothers (median = 14.0 kb, interquartile range = 14.3–12.7; 2.2 kb/telomere difference, p<0.027). Conclusions This observation adds to emerging knowledge about early adverse child rearing conditions and their potential for influencing later morbidity. As newborns were randomly assigned to the mother or other rearing conditions, the findings are not confounded by other conditions that co-occur with adverse child rearing environments in humans (e.g., prenatal stress, nutrition and health as well as postnatal nutrition and negative life experiences over and above rearing conditions).

Effects of early-life competition and maternal nutrition on telomere lengths in wild meerkats

“…In addition to the above benefits for offspring condition and dominance acquisition, infanticide may therefore allow dominant females to improve pup telomere lengths, thus delaying their onset of senescence, extending their dominance tenures and increasing their lifetime reproductive success. While the level and type of parental care has been shown to influence offspring telomere lengths in humans and captive rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) [30,71,72], to our knowledge this is the first evidence that a specific maternal strategy (killing competitor pups) has associated benefits for offspring telomere lengths.…”

A new look at neurobehavioral development in rhesus monkey neonates (Macaca mulatta)

“…Five hundred sixty one infants (305 male) were separated from their mothers on the day they were born (typically by 8 am), and were reared in a nursery facility for ongoing, unrelated research studies (e.g., Baker et al, 2017; Provençal et al, 2012; Schneper, Brooks‐Gunn, Notterman, & Suomi, 2016). All infants were individually housed in incubators (51 cm × 38 cm × 43 cm) maintained at 24–28°C for the first 2 weeks of life and in metal cages (61 × 61 × 76 cm) thereafter.…”

Mechanisms Underlying the Association Between Early-Life Adversity and Physical Health: Charting a Course for the Future

“…To date, experimental evidence for the health effects of adversity have come from animal studies or from naturalistic experiments in humans (e.g., famines, natural disasters, sudden economic shifts). Although their sample size was small, Schneper and colleagues used random assignment of primates to parenting environments, increasing confidence in the causal nature of the effects on adult telomere length (11). Experimental manipulation of adversity exposure involves ethical complexities for both animal and human research, and a promising future direction for the field is to examine mechanisms of adversity in the context of randomized preventive interventions.…”

“…These include global indices of health problems and health impairment (1, 2), asthma (3, 4), obesity (5), and pain conditions (6). Papers in this issue also provide evidence that a number of neurobiological mechanisms underlie the associations of adversity experienced in utero and in childhood with physical health problems across the life-course, including inflammatory (7), cardiometabolic (8), epigenetic (9, 10); gene expression (10), and cellular aging pathways (11). It is intriguing that, in contrast to influential theories (e.g.…”