Domínguez-de-Barros Angélica, Sifaoui Inés, Borecka Zuzanna, Dorta-Guerra Roberto, Lorenzo-Morales Jacob, Castro-Fuentes Rafael, Córdoba-Lanús Elizabeth
Instituto Universitario de Enfermedades Tropicales y Salud Pública de Canarias (IUETSPC), Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.
Faculty of Biology and Animal Science, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wrocław, Poland.
Front Genet. 2023 Mar 20;14:1156730. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1156730. eCollection 2023.
Aging is a multifactorial process that includes molecular changes such as telomere shortening. Telomeres shorten progressively with age in vertebrates, and their shortening rate has a significant role in determining the lifespan of a species. However, DNA loss can be enhanced by oxidative stress. The need for novel animal models has recently emerged as a tool to gather more information about the human aging process. Birds live longer than other mammals of the same size, and Psittacidae species are the most persevering of them, due to special key traits. We aimed to determine telomere length by qPCR, and oxidative stress status using colorimetric and fluorescence methods in different species of the order Psittaciformes with different lifespans. We found that telomeres shorten with age for both long- and short-lived birds ( < 0.001 and = 0.004, respectively), with long-lived birds presenting longer telomeres than short-lived ones ( = 0.001). In addition, short-lived birds accumulated more oxidative stress products than long-lived birds ( = 0.013), who showed a better antioxidant capacity ( < 0.001). Breeding was found related to telomere shortening in all species ( < 0.001 and = 0.003 for long- and short-lived birds). Short-lived birds, especially breeding females, increased their oxidative stress products when breeding ( = 0.021), whereas long-lived birds showed greater resistance and even increased their antioxidant capacity ( = 0.002). In conclusion, the relationship between age and telomere length in Psittacidae was verified. The influence of breeding increased cumulative oxidative damage in short-lived species, while long-lived species may counteract this damage.
衰老过程是一个多因素过程，包括端粒缩短等分子变化。在脊椎动物中，端粒会随着年龄的增长而逐渐缩短，其缩短速率在决定物种寿命方面起着重要作用。然而，氧化应激会加剧DNA的损失。最近，人们开始需要新型动物模型作为一种工具，以获取更多关于人类衰老过程的信息。鸟类比其他同等体型的哺乳动物寿命更长，由于一些特殊的关键特征，鹦鹉科物种是其中寿命最长的。我们旨在通过定量聚合酶链反应（qPCR）测定不同寿命的鹦形目物种的端粒长度，并使用比色法和荧光法测定其氧化应激状态。我们发现，无论是长寿鸟类还是短寿鸟类，端粒都会随着年龄的增长而缩短（分别为P<0.001和P = 0.004），长寿鸟类的端粒比短寿鸟类更长（P = 0.001）。此外，短寿鸟类比长寿鸟类积累了更多的氧化应激产物（P = 0.013），而长寿鸟类表现出更好的抗氧化能力（P<0.001）。我们发现，在所有物种中，繁殖都与端粒缩短有关（长寿鸟类和短寿鸟类分别为P<0.001和P = 0.003）。短寿鸟类，尤其是处于繁殖期的雌性，在繁殖时氧化应激产物会增加（P = 0.021），而长寿鸟类则表现出更强的抵抗力，甚至抗氧化能力也有所增强（P = 0.002）。总之，鹦鹉科中年龄与端粒长度之间的关系得到了验证。繁殖的影响增加了短寿物种的累积氧化损伤，而长寿物种可能会抵消这种损伤。
