# `Core B:  Animal Core

> **NIH NIH U19** · UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING · 2021 · $1,275,799

## Abstract

Core B: Animal Core – Lead PI: Cun Li, MD; Multiple PI: Peter W Nathanielsz, MD, PhD
Animal Core Abstract:
Significance/Justification of nonhuman primate studies. Extensive separate aging and programming
research exists but few studies address programming-aging interactions and none in nonhuman primates
(NHP) other than our own recent publications. Baboons are the closest practical experimental species to
humans. Knowledge gained will help develop new interventions to increase health span even in early life and
permit diagnostic approaches to identify patients at risk of accelerated aging. Premises/hypotheses. 1.
Antecedents of aging exist early in hippocampal-hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HHPA) axis, brain structure
and function, and behavior; cardiovascular system (CVS); metabolic biomarkers, and associated genetics. 2.
Programming-aging interactions are major determinants of life course health span. 2a. Moderate perinatal
maternal nutrient reduction alters HHPA axis, brain and behavior, CVS, and metabolic function evident in
accelerated changes in aging biomarkers in their IUGR offspring (F1) compared to normal life course (NLC)
controls receiving normal perinatal nutrition. 2b. Maternal obesity (MO) in the perinatal period alters function in
the HHPA axis, brain and behavior, CVS, and metabolism evident in accelerated changes in aging biomarkers
compared to NLC receiving normal perinatal nutrition. 2c. Cortisol replacement intervention to prevent the life
course cortisol fall increases the rate of aging in the systems studied evident in accelerated changes in aging
biomarkers compared to NLC baboons in which the NLC cortisol falls. 3. Comparing NLC control data with
data from three interventions that alter the aging trajectory provides insights into key mechanisms in systems
and cellular aging pathways for translation to humans to anticipate age-related mechanisms that decrease
health span enabling development of human aging markers and interventions. Our studies will also provide
basc information on normal organ function not obtainable in humans. Approach. We study equal male and
female baboons in all groups using in vivo techniques – tether, CVS, endocrine, metabolic approaches, MRI,
and in vitro studies on skin fibroblasts. Synergy. All 96 baboons undergo the same procedures allowing data
integration across biological systems. Response to IRG observed weaknesses. Specifically, we removed
redundancies and addressed colony lifespan variations - our goal is to start from an early age to study aging to
obtain a data continuum as animals age. We describe programming models in more detail. Because of lack of
enthusiasm and IRG criticisms we removed the maternal glucocorticoid group. We no longer conduct
euthanasia on any animals. In the General Overview we justify the title Womb to Tomb with plans to
incorporate published fetal data and new data from our fetal and postnatal archives. We present our plans to
share unique resources worldwide and ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10201482
- **Project number:** 5U19AG057758-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
- **Principal Investigator:** Christopher Yeh Chen
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,275,799
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-30 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10201482

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10201482, `Core B:  Animal Core (5U19AG057758-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10201482. Licensed CC0.

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