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The art of growing old: environmental manipulation, physiological rhythms, and the advent of Microcebus murinus as a primate model of aging

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Abstract

In the early 1990s, Microcebus murinus, a small primate endemic to Madagascar, emerged as a potential animal model for the study of aging and Alzheimer’s disease. This paper traces the use of the lesser mouse lemur in research on aging and associated neurodegenerative diseases, focusing on a basic material precondition that made this possible, namely, the conversion of a wild animal into an experimental organism that lives, breeds, and survives in the laboratory. It argues that the “old” mouse lemur model can be considered as an eco-zootechnical acquisition. This is shown by examining how, since the early 1970s, French mouse lemur researchers have articulated colony productivity and viability with the influence of environmental factors on the demographics and physiology of the species. The appearance and maintenance of a growing number of old mouse lemurs in French research facilities are related to three developments: the application of the ecological notion of “social stress” to the understanding and management of the behavior of the captive population; the experimental demonstration that a variety of seasonal physiological changes in the species were influenced by the photoperiod; and the related attempt to accelerate aging in mouse lemurs through the manipulation of annual light conditions.

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Notes

  1. The term eco-zootechnology is also used by sociologist André Micoud to describe wildlife management practices that are developed at the intersection of “popular” know-how, such as “falconry” or “the arts of ‘trapping’ and hunting”, and learned knowledge (Micoud 1993, p. 209).

  2. The “thèse d’Etat” was a substantial doctoral dissertation conducted over a period of circa ten years.

  3. Demographic records from the Brunoy colony, if preserved and accessible, would make it possible to link the researchers' assessment to a detailed quantitative examination of the improvement of natality and life expectancy from the late 1970s onwards.

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Acknowledgements

I thank the members of the research unit Mécanismes Moléculaires dans les Démences Neurodégénératives for having welcomed me in their laboratory at the University of Montpellier 2. The observations I was able to make in their mouse lemur facility prompted my investigation into the history of the breeding and maintenance of the species in captivity. Early versions of this paper were presented at the seminar “Approaches and methods ST2S” of the Department for the history of life and health sciences of the University of Strasbourg (2018) and the meeting of the International Society for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology (Oslo, 2019). The organizers and audiences at both events provided many helpful comments and criticisms. My gratitude also goes to the French National Foundation on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders whose support made this study possible. Finally, I would like to thank the editors and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive comments.

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  1. Centre de Recherche Médecine, Sciences, Santé, Santé Mentale, Société (CNRS UMR 8211, Inserm U 988, EHESS, Université Paris Descartes), Villejuif, France

    Lucie Gerber

  2. FADO, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Lucie Gerber

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Gerber, L. The art of growing old: environmental manipulation, physiological rhythms, and the advent of Microcebus murinus as a primate model of aging. HPLS 42, 26 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40656-020-00321-2

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