Cui Zhenwei, Dong Yunlong, Sholl Jonathan, Lu Jiqi, Raubenheimer David
Institute of Biodiversity and Ecology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
Centre for Nutritional Ecology, Centre for Sport Nutrition and Health, School of Physical Education (Main Campus), Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
Annu Rev Anim Biosci. 2025 Feb;13(1):441-464. doi: 10.1146/annurev-animal-111523-102354. Epub 2024 Nov 18.
Nutrition is a complex and contested area in biomedicine, which requires diverse evidence sources. Nonhuman primate models are considered an important biomedical research tool because of their biological similarities to humans, but they are typically used with little explicit consideration of their ecology and evolution. Using the rhesus macaque (RM), we consider the potential of nutritional ecology for enriching the use of primates as models for human nutrition. We introduce some relevant aspects of RM evolutionary and social ecology and discuss two examples where they have been used in biomedical research: obesity and aging. We next consider how insights from nutritional ecology can help inform and direct the use of RM as a biomedical model. We conclude by illustrating how conceptual tools might inform the use of RM as a model for human nutrition and extracting insights from RM that might be relevant to broader theoretical considerations around animal model systems.
营养是生物医学中一个复杂且存在争议的领域，这需要多种证据来源。由于与人类具有生物学相似性，非人灵长类动物模型被视为一种重要的生物医学研究工具，但在使用它们时，通常很少明确考虑其生态学和进化情况。我们以恒河猴（RM）为例，探讨营养生态学在丰富将灵长类动物用作人类营养模型方面的潜力。我们介绍了恒河猴进化和社会生态学的一些相关方面，并讨论了它们在生物医学研究中的两个应用实例：肥胖和衰老。接下来，我们思考营养生态学的见解如何有助于为将恒河猴用作生物医学模型提供信息并加以指导。我们通过说明概念工具如何为将恒河猴用作人类营养模型提供信息，以及从恒河猴中提取可能与围绕动物模型系统的更广泛理论思考相关的见解来得出结论。
