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Strengths and Weaknesses of the Gray Mouse Lemur Strengths and Weaknesses of the Gray Mouse Lemur (Microcebus murinus) as a Model for the Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Dementia Fabien Pifferi, Jacques Epelbaum, Fabienne Aujard To cite this version: Fabien Pifferi, Jacques Epelbaum, Fabienne Aujard. Strengths and Weaknesses of theGray Mouse Lemur (Microcebus murinus) as a Model for the Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Dementia. Frontiers in Pharmacology, Frontiers, 2019, 10, 10.3389/fphar.2019.01291. hal-02393164 HAL Id: hal-02393164 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02393164 Submitted on 10 Dec 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. REVIEW published: 30 October 2019 doi: 10.3389/fphar.2019.01291 Strengths and Weaknesses of the Gray Mouse Lemur (Microcebus murinus) as a Model for the Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms of Dementia Fabien Pifferi 1, Jacques Epelbaum 1,2 and Fabienne Aujard 1* 1 UMR CNRS/MNHN 7179, Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution, Brunoy, France, 2 Unité Mixte de Recherche en Santé 894 INSERM, Centre de Psychiatrie et Neurosciences, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France Edited by: To face the load of the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease in the aging population, Bjorn Johansson, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Sweden there is an urgent need to develop more translatable animal models with similarities to Reviewed by: humans in both the symptomatology and physiopathology of dementia. Due to their Caroline Zeiss, close evolutionary similarity to humans, non-human primates (NHPs) are of primary Yale University, United States interest. Of the NHPs, to date, the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus) has shown Huda Shalahudin Darusman, promising evidence of its translatability to humans. The present review reports the known Bogor Agricultural University, advantages and limitations of using this species at all levels of investigation in the context Indonesia Arunachalam Muthuraman, of neuropsychiatric conditions. In this easily bred Malagasy primate with a relatively short AIMST University, life span (approximately 12 years), age-related cognitive decline, amyloid angiopathy, and Malaysia risk factors (i.e., glucoregulatory imbalance) are congruent with those observed in humans. *Correspondence: Fabienne Aujard More specifically, analogous behavioral and psychological symptoms and neuropsychiatric [email protected] symptoms of dementia (BPSD/NPS) to those in humans can be found in the aging mouse lemur. Aged mouse lemurs show typical age-related alterations of locomotor activity daily Specialty section: rhythms such as decreased rhythm amplitude, increased fragmentation, and increased This article was submitted to Neuropharmacology, activity during the resting-sleeping phase of the day and desynchronization with the a section of the journal light-dark cycle. In addition, sleep deprivation successfully induces cognitive deficits in Frontiers in Pharmacology adult mouse lemurs, and the effectiveness of approved cognitive enhancers such as Received: 24 June 2019 Accepted: 09 October 2019 acetylcholinesterase inhibitors or N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonists is demonstrated Published: 30 October 2019 in sleep–deprived animals. This result supports the translational potential of this animal Citation: model, especially for unraveling the mechanisms underlying dementia and for developing Pifferi F, Epelbaum J and Aujard F novel therapeutics to prevent age-associated cognitive decline. In conclusion, actual (2019) Strengths and Weaknesses of the Gray Mouse Lemur knowledge of BPSD/NPS-like symptoms of age-related cognitive deficits in the gray (Microcebus murinus) as a Model mouse lemur and the recent demonstration of the similarity of these symptoms with for the Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms and Neuropsychiatric those seen in humans offer promising new ways of investigating both the prevention and Symptoms of Dementia. treatment of pathological aging. Front. Pharmacol. 10:1291. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2019.01291 Keywords: Microcebus, primate model, aging, Alzheimer’s disease, cognition, circadian rhythms Frontiers in Pharmacology | www.frontiersin.org 1 October 2019 | Volume 10 | Article 1291 Pifferi et al. Lemur Model of Alzheimer’s Disease INTRODUCTION 2003). In captivity, gray mouse lemurs can live up to 13 years (Pifferi et al., 2019), while their lifespan in the wild is significantly Common laboratory model organisms—yeast, nematodes shorter (Lutermann et al., 2006). In this study by Lutermann et (Caenorhabditis elegans), fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), al., no animals older than 6 years old were observed. In addition, and mice—have helped scientists substantially advance our due to their relatively small body size (head-body length of understanding of neuropsychiatric diseases (Götz and Ittner, approximately 15 cm) and low body mass (60–80 g), mouse 2008; Nestler and Hyman, 2010). However, the limits of such lemurs can be easily bred and kept in captivity at low costs. This models are particularly pronounced in this field of research. Many species, thus, would be a good compromise between practical of the human symptoms leading to psychiatric diagnoses (e.g., breeding methods and physiological and phylogenetic proximity hallucinations, delusions, sadness, guilt) cannot be convincingly to humans. In addition, this species offers a natural biological reproduced in the common animal models cited above. When heterogeneity and spontaneous occurrence of pathologies, reasonable correlates do exist, such as in rodents (e.g., abnormal especially age-related neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, even social behavior, motivation, working memory, emotion, and though some limitations need to be considered, this species is executive function), the correspondence still remains limited. considered an emerging model organism for biology, behavior, Moreover, determining how symptoms in a rodent correspond and health studies (Ezran et al., 2017; Roberts, 2019), particularly to a recognized human neuropsychiatric disorder is not trivial. in the context of aging (Bons et al., 2006; Austad and Fischer, According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental 2011; Finch and Austad, 2012; Laurijssens et al., 2013). Disorders, 5th Edition (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), “most diagnoses are based on phenomenology, i.e., on symptoms, signs, and the course of the illness” rather than validated tests. POTENTIAL MARKERS OF BEHAVIORAL Thus, it is of primary importance to take advantage of the extreme similarity between non-human primates (NHPs) and AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS OF humans. Indeed, the anatomical and functional organization DEMENTIA IN GRAY MOUSE LEMURS OF of NHP brains is homologous to the human brain (i.e., the ALL AGES existence of specialized motor, perceptual, and cognitive abilities not found in rodents) (Borra and Luppino, 2019). Therefore, Cognition and Sensory–Motor Functions neuropsychiatric disorders can be better replicated in NHPs The mouse lemur is a primate that has been extensively studied than in rodents. However, the use of NHP species, as essential in relation to cognitive function and its evolution during aging as it appears to be for neuropsychiatric research, has also (Languille et al., 2012b). Cognitive functions have been mainly been a caveat. Increased ethical pressure to regulate the use of studied in young and adult, male mouse lemurs and studies animals for scientific purposes is especially strong in the case of covered the following major cognitive domains: recognition, primates. In addition to ethical issues, the high cost of breeding, spatial or working memories, stimulus reward associative the relatively long life spans, the large body size, and social learning, and set-shifting performances. Such cognitive tasks system constraints are limiting factors that need to be taken into rely on brain function and sensory–motor functions. Age-related account. Therefore, the use of a smaller-sized NHP species such effects on the sensory functions of mouse lemurs have been as mouse lemurs (Microcebus murinus) to model age-associated studied in this context and as markers of aging. cognitive disorders and neuropsychiatric conditions, as reviewed The overall pattern of cognitive performance throughout herein, would be a good compromise. The gray mouse lemur aging reflects changes similar, in many aspects, to those that belongs to the Strepsirhini suborder and to the Cheirogaleidae occur in human aging. This similarity is not found in most family, composed of small, omnivorous primates. As primates, rodents, whose memory function does not match that of humans they have the closest phylogenetic distance to humans, much (Deacon, 2014). One specific rodent species, Octodon degus, has closer than that of rodents (about mid-distance between mouse more similarities with humans and can provide benefits in aging and human) (Ezran et al., 2017). These primates are nocturnal, studies (Tarragon et al., 2013; Hurley
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