Aging and sex affect soluble alpha klotho levels in bonobos and chimpanzees

Abstract

BackgroundThroughout life, physiological homeostasis is challenged and the capacity to cope with such challenges declines with increasing age. In many species, sex differences exist in life expectancy. Sex-specific differences have been related to extrinsic factors like mate competition and/or intrinsic proximate mechanisms such as hormonal changes. In humans, an intrinsic factor related to aging is soluble alpha klotho (α-Kl). Both sexes show an age-related decline in α-Kl, but throughout life women have higher levels than men of the same age. Sex differences in α-Kl have been linked to a shorter lifespan, as well as to specific morbidity factors such as atherosclerosis and arteries calcifications. In non-human animals, information on α-Kl levels is rare and restricted to experimental work. Our cross-sectional study is the first on α-Kl levels in two long-lived species: bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). As in most mammals, female bonobos and chimpanzees have longer life expectancy than males.MethodsWe measured serum α-Kl levels of 140 subjects from 16 zoos with an ELISA to examine if α-Kl levels reflect this difference in life expectancy.ResultsIn both species and in both sexes, α-Kl levels declined with age suggesting that this marker has potential for aging studies beyond humans. We also found species-specific differences. Adult female bonobos had higher α-Kl levels than males, a difference that corresponds to the pattern found in humans. In chimpanzees, we found the opposite: males had higher α-Kl levels than females.ConclusionWe suggest that contrasting sex differences in adult α-Kl levels mirror the dominance relations between females and males of the two Pan species; and that this might be related to corresponding sex differences in their exposure to stress. In humans, higher cortisol levels were found to be related to lower α-Kl levels. We conclude that there is great potential for studying aging processes in hominoids, and perhaps also in other non-human primates, by measuring α-Kl levels. To better understand the causes for sex differences in this aging marker, consideration of behavioural parameters such as competition and stress exposure will be required as well as other physiological markers.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12983-018-0282-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Serum Levels of α-Klotho Are Correlated with Cerebrospinal Fluid Levels and Predict Measures of Cognitive Function

“…was a trend towards a positive association between Contrary to previous findings, we did not find a decline in serum or CSF ␣-klotho levels with age [3,25]. This might be due to the distribution of ages in the present study.…”

Gender-specific soluble α-klotho levels as marker of GH deficiency in children: a case–control study

“…In addition, we found a gender difference in sαKL. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this has been reported in humans, because till now it has only been shown in animals [36]. However, further studies are required to confirm our results.…”

Klotho Is Neuroprotective in the Superoxide Dismutase (SOD1G93A) Mouse Model of ALS

“…These findings are of interest in relation to Klotho since Klotho-overexpressing males exhibit a more prolonged life span than females, 30 vs 19%, respectively (Kurosu et al 2005). In humans, however, the levels of serum Klotho are lower in boys and men than in girls and women (Pedersen et al 2013;Semba et al 2011) and are lower in male bonobos than in females (Behringer et al 2018).…”