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Inflammaging in domestic dogs: basal level concentrations of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α in serum of healthy dogs of different body sizes and ages

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Abstract

Inflammaging, a “hallmark of aging,” refers to a chronic, progressive increase in the proinflammatory status of mammals as they age, and this phenotype has been associated with many age-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease, arthritis and cancer. Though, inflammaging research is common in humans, there is a lack of data for this process for the domestic dog. Here, serum concentrations of IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α in healthy dogs of different body sizes and ages were measured to determine whether inflammaging may play a mechanistic role in aging rates in dogs, similar to those found in humans. Using a four-way ANOVA, a significant decrease in IL-6 concentrations in young dogs with the rest of the age categories showing increased IL-6 concentrations was found, similar to humans. However, only young dogs have decreased IL-6 concentrations, with adult dogs having similar IL-6 concentrations to senior and geriatric dogs, implying differences in aging rates between humans and dogs. And, there was a marginally significant interaction between sex*spayed or neutered status and IL-1β concentrations with intact females having the lowest IL-1β concentrations compared with intact males, and spayed and neutered dogs. The presence of estrogen in intact females may, overall, decrease inflammatory pathways. This implies that age at spaying or neutering may be an important aspect to consider for inflammaging pathways in dogs. Furthermore, sterilized dogs often die of immune-related diseases, which could be linked to the increases in IL-1β in sterilized dogs found in this study.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by a Colgate University Research Council grant to the author. We are grateful to Drs. Kerri Hudson and Frank Capella for collecting blood for our lab.

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This study was funded by a Colgate University Research Council grant to the author.

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  1. Department of Biology, Colgate University, 13 Oak Dr., Hamilton, NY, 13346, USA

    Ana Gabriela Jiménez

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AGJ collected samples, data and wrote the mansucript.

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Blood collected for this study was done by veterinarians during routine checkups at their offices. Thus, obtaining blood samples was done under the guidelines of the Colgate University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

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Jiménez, A.G. Inflammaging in domestic dogs: basal level concentrations of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α in serum of healthy dogs of different body sizes and ages. Biogerontology 24, 593–602 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10522-023-10037-y

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