Dog brains could hold key information for longer, healthier human lives
Can old dogs teach us new tricks for how to live longer, healthier lives? A nationwide project searches for answers.
It was personal when Pat Schultz enrolled her German shepherd-poodle mix in the Dog Aging Project . Her husband was suffering from Alzheimer's at the time, and the project her dog was participating in aimed to advance research into both canine and human aging.
Her dog, 12-year-old Murphy, is one of more than 50,000 in the project. Scientists around the country collect data on dogs' diets and exercise, analyze blood samples and do MRIs of dogs' brains. Dogs suffer from many of the same aging-related diseases as humans, and because they age more rapidly than humans, scientists can learn a lot from studying them, veterinary neurologist Stephanie McGrath said.
"We can get a ton of information that would take decades to do in humans," McGrath said.
What kinds of tests does the Dog Aging Project do?
Matt Kaeberlein, a biologist who has spent decades trying to understand and reverse the causes of aging in both humans and dogs, co-founded the Dog Aging Project in 2014.
"I realized, 'Oh my God, we know about three or four or five ways to slow aging in laboratory animals. Some of those are going to work in dogs,'" Kaeberlein said.