Cat brains age like humans: Translating Time shows pet cats live to be natural models for human aging

Capucine Januel; Elijah Morrow; Ryan Gibson; Amanda  Gross; Alexandra  de Sousa; Brier A. Rigby Dames; Christine J. Charvet

doi:10.1242/bio.062604

Cat brains age like humans: Translating Time shows pet cats live to be natural models for human aging

Capucine Januel
, Elijah Morrow
, Ryan Gibson
, Amanda Gross
, Alexandra de Sousa
, Brier A. Rigby Dames
, Christine J. Charvet

Auburn University
École Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Whether an animal can achieve a lifespan equivalent to a human in their 80s remains an open question. Cats may serve as valuable models for human aging because there is some evidence that they can develop human related aging patterns. Here, we leveraged 3754 observations extracted from age-related brain variation, blood chemistry profiles, and other data to equate ages across the lifespan of humans and cats. We used structural MR scans (7T and 3T MRI) from pet and colony cats to quantify age-related brain metrics during aging. Cat and human brains exhibit similar age-related patterns of brain atrophy. We used common patterns of brain change and other health-related metrics to generate age alignments across the lifespan to late stages of life (e.g. an 80-year-old human equates to a 15-year-old cat). We also collected observations across multiple cat populations, including pets, zoos, and colonies to encapsulate individual variation in cross-species age alignments. One major finding to emerge is that pet cats are studied at significantly older ages than colony cats, and pet cats demonstrate a high degree of age-related brain atrophy. We demonstrate that it is feasible to translate ages across the lifespan of humans and cats.

Original language	English
Article number	bio062604
Journal	Biology Open
Volume	15
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1242/bio.062604
Publication status	Published - 30 Jun 2026

Data Availability Statement

All relevant data and details of resources can be found within the article and its
supplementary information

Funding

We used data from the Primate Aging Database (https://primatedatabase.org/), which is an initiative of the National Institute on Aging. This work was supported by an R21 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (R21HD101964), a Nathan Shock Center pilot, a Scott Fund from the Scott-Ritchy Research Center at Auburn, and an Animal Health and Disease Research Fund to (C.J.C.). These opinions are not necessarily those of the NIH. OASIS-1 was supported by multiple Principal Investigators: D. Marcus, R., Buckner, J., Csernansky and J. Morris; with work supported from multiple grants. Those include P50 AG05681, P01 AG03991, P01 AG026276, R01 AG021910, P20 MH071616, U24 RR021382. Open Access funding provided by Auburn University. Deposited in PMC for immediate release.

Funders	Funder number
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Population Media Center
Auburn University
Animal Health and Disease Research Fund
National Institute on Aging
Scott-Ritchy Research Center at Auburn
National Institutes of Health	R01 AG021910, U24 RR021382, P01 AG026276, P20 MH071616
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development	R21HD101964

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Aging
Cat
Development
Pet
Rate
Translational

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Access to Document

10.1242/bio.062604Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Cat brains age like humans: Translating Time shows pet cats live to be natural models for human aging",

abstract = "Whether an animal can achieve a lifespan equivalent to a human in their 80s remains an open question. Cats may serve as valuable models for human aging because there is some evidence that they can develop human related aging patterns. Here, we leveraged 3754 observations extracted from age-related brain variation, blood chemistry profiles, and other data to equate ages across the lifespan of humans and cats. We used structural MR scans (7T and 3T MRI) from pet and colony cats to quantify age-related brain metrics during aging. Cat and human brains exhibit similar age-related patterns of brain atrophy. We used common patterns of brain change and other health-related metrics to generate age alignments across the lifespan to late stages of life (e.g. an 80-year-old human equates to a 15-year-old cat). We also collected observations across multiple cat populations, including pets, zoos, and colonies to encapsulate individual variation in cross-species age alignments. One major finding to emerge is that pet cats are studied at significantly older ages than colony cats, and pet cats demonstrate a high degree of age-related brain atrophy. We demonstrate that it is feasible to translate ages across the lifespan of humans and cats.",

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AU - Rigby Dames, Brier A.

AU - Charvet, Christine J.

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Cat brains age like humans: Translating Time shows pet cats live to be natural models for human aging

Abstract

Data Availability Statement

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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Cite this