Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Visuospatial function in the beagle dog: an early marker of cognitive decline in a model of human aging and dementia.
- Journal:
- Neurobiology of learning and memory
- Year:
- 2006
- Authors:
- Studzinski, Christa M et al.
- Affiliation:
- Department of Pharmacology · Canada
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
This study looked at how older beagle dogs, aged between a few months to almost 12 years, perform on tasks that test their ability to remember and learn about space and location, which can be similar to early signs of cognitive decline in humans. The researchers found that as dogs got older, they made more mistakes on these tasks, with mild issues starting around the age of 6. This decline in their ability to navigate and remember spatial information could be an early sign of cognitive problems, similar to what happens in people with Alzheimer's disease. The results suggest that age-related changes in how dogs think about space can help us understand aging and dementia in both dogs and humans. Overall, the findings indicate that these cognitive changes in dogs can serve as an early warning sign of potential cognitive decline.
Abstract
Visuospatial learning and memory impairments are an early marker for age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. Similar to humans, aged dogs show visuospatial learning and memory deficits (). One hundred and nine beagle dogs ranging between 0.25 and 11.99 years were tested on a visuospatial delayed non-matching to position (DNMP) task to better characterize the progression of visuospatial deficits in the dog. Age predicted 48.2% of the variability in learning the DNMP, with dogs ranging from 1 to 11.99 years generally making more errors with increasing age. By contrast, puppies (<1 year) likely were showing developmental deficits, possibly due to an immature prefrontal cortex. Mild visuospatial deficits were detected by 6 years, which precedes the typical onset of amyloid-beta (Abeta) accumulation in the dog brain by two years, and can serve as an early marker for cognitive decline in the dog. These findings suggest that (1) age-related changes in visuospatial function in the dog models that seen in humans, further validating the dog as a model for human aging and dementia; and (2) other mechanisms, such as oxidative stress, soluble Abeta oligomers or cholinergic deficits, are likely contributing to the early impairment.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16616528/