Age‐related changes in hematological biomarkers in common marmosets

Abstract

Researchers and veterinarians often use hematology and clinical chemistry to evaluate animal health. These biomarkers are relatively easy to obtain, and understanding how they change across healthy aging is critical to clinical care and diagnostics for these animals. We aimed to evaluate how clinical biomarkers from a chemistry profile and complete blood count (CBC) change with age in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). We assessed blood samples collected during routine physical exams at the Southwest National Primate Research Center and the University of Texas Health San Antonio marmoset colonies from November 2020–November 2021. We found that chemistry and CBC profiles varied based on facility, sex, and age. Significant changes in albumin, phosphorus/creatinine ratio, albumin/globulin ratio, amylase, creatinine, lymphocyte percent, hematocrit, granulocytes percent, lymphocytes, hemoglobin, red cell distribution width, and platelet distribution width were all reported with advancing age. Aged individuals also demonstrated evidence for changes in liver, kidney, and immune system function compared with younger individuals. Our results suggest there may be regular changes associated with healthy aging in marmosets that are outside of the range typically considered as normal values for healthy young individuals, indicating the potential need for redefined healthy ranges for clinical biomarkers in aged animals. Identifying animals that exhibit values outside of this defined healthy aging reference will allow more accurate diagnostics and treatments for aging colonies.

Association between Blood Parameters of Nutritional Status and Functional Status in Extreme Longevity

“…Researchers suggest that some of the changes like significant changes in albumin, lymphocytes, and hemoglobin are associated with a healthy aging process. It could be that exhibited values outside of this defined healthy aging reference will allow more accurate diagnostics and treatments in long-lived individuals [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Developing the Common Marmoset as a Translational Geroscience Model to Study the Microbiome and Healthy Aging

“…The ratio of the rates of adult aging between human years and marmoset years would, thus, be 1:8 to middle age and 1:6 to maximum age (compared with 1:2 and 1:2.5 for macaques). Marmosets are typically considered geriatric at 8 years of age, when the first dysfunction associated with aging is detected (cognitive deficit, brain amyloid deposit, and blood chemistry alterations) [21]. In addition to their relatively short lifespan, they are small and relatively cheap to house, making them easy and safe to handle for experimentation [22,23].…”

“…As a nonhuman primate model, there are many social, physiological, and behavioral functions that more closely translate to human function than do rodent models, including diurnal activity patterns, feeding and nutritional patterns, and the formation of pair-bonded social groups. Marmosets have been found to display many aging phenotypes that mimic human aging, including increased risks of cardiovascular changes, inflammatory disease, metabolic impairment, suppressed immune function, frailty, and impaired cognition [20,21].…”