title: Telomere dynamics in rhesus monkeys: no apparent effect of caloric restriction.
abstract: The role of telomere attrition in limiting the replicative capacity of cells in culture is well established. In humans, epidemiologic evidence suggests telomere length (TL) in leukocytes is highly variable at birth and inversely related to age. Although calorie restriction (CR) significantly increases life span in most rodent models, its association with TL is unknown. Using linear regression analysis, TLs (as measured by Southern blot analysis) of skeletal muscle (a postmitotic tissue that largely represents early development TL), fat, leukocytes, and skin were tested for effects of age, sex, and diet in 48 control and 23 calorie restriction rhesus monkeys. After controlling for the individual's muscle mean TL, differences between leukocytes muscle and skin muscle were significantly associated with age (p = .002; p = .002) and sex (p = .003; p = .042), but not calorie restriction (p = .884; p = .766). Despite an age-dependent shortening of TL in leukocytes and skin, calorie restriction did not significantly affect TL dynamics in these samples.
authors.affiliation: University of Alabama at Birmingham, Main Campus, Birmingham, AL 35294-3360, USA. dsmithjr@uab.edu
authors.forename: Daniel L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Mattison
authors.forename: Renee A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Desmond
authors.forename: Jeffrey P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: George S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: Donald K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Ingram
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Allison
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aviv
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000166:cytology; D000818:Animals; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D031204:Caloric Restriction; D005260:Female; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000166:cytology; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology; D016615:Telomere / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure*