Principles of age-related changes in the canine and feline brain

Abstract

In the aged dog and cat, especially dog, a cognitive decline develops naturally in many different domains, but at the same time it also exhibits human-like individual variability in the aging process. In the aging dog and cat brain lesions develop spontaneously. Dogs share some morphological characteristics with those of Alzheimer’s disease in man. The canine brain with its plaques and tangles which show oxidative changes, forms a spontaneous model for understanding the early changes and their interrela-tionships in Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, the aged dog represents a useful model for the development of preventive or therapeutic interventions to improve aged brain function. These interventions can then be translated into human clinical trials.

Kod ostarelih pasa i mačaka, posebno pasa, gubitak kognitivnih sposobnosti se prirodno razvija na različitim poljima, ali istovremeno ispoljava slično kao i kod ljudi sa individualnim razlikama u procesu starenja. U toku starenja kod pasa i mačaka promene u mozgu se razvijaju spontano. Kod pasa se javljaju neke morfološke promene, slične promenama kod ljudi koji su oboleli od Alchajmerove bolesti. Pored toga, ostareli pas predstavlja koristan model za razvoj preventivnih ili terapeutskih intervencija radi poboljšanja funkcije ostarelog mozga. Ovakve intervencije se mogu preneti na klinička ispitivanja na ljudima.