TY - JOUR
T1 - Early maternal separation is not associated with changes in telomere length in domestic kittens (Felis catus)
AU - Delgado, Mikel
AU - Tony Buffington, C. A.
AU - Bain, Melissa
AU - Smith, Dana L.
AU - Vernau, Karen
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded by a grant from the Koret Shelter Medicine Program/Center for Companion Animal Health at the University of California, Davis. Mikel Delgado was supported by funding from Maddie’s Fund and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through grant number UL1 TR001860 and linked award TL1 TR001861. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 PeerJ Inc.. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Objective. Studies of multiple species have found that adverse early life experiences, including childhood trauma and maternal separation, can result in accelerated telomere shortening. The objective of this study was to determine if premature separation from the mother affected telomere length in domestic kittens (Felis catus). Subjects were 42 orphaned kittens and 10 mother-reared kittens from local animal rescue groups and shelters. DNA was extracted from whole blood collected from kittens at approximately 1 week and 2 months of age. Telomere length was assessed by qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) from a total of 86 samples and expressed as a ratio of telomere PCR relative to a single copy gene PCR (T/S). Results. A generalized linear mixed model found there were no detectable differences in telomere length based on survival (F1, 76.2 D 3.35, p D 0.07), orphan status (F1, 56.5 D 0.44, pD0.51), time point (F1, 43.5 D0.19, pD0.67), or the interaction between orphan status and time (F1, 43.5 D0.86, pD0.36). Although in other species telomere shortening is commonly associated with aging, even early in life, we did not find evidence for telomere shortening by two months of age. Our results suggest that the experience of early maternal separation in domestic cats who are subsequently hand-reared by humans does not accelerate telomere shortening compared to mother-reared kittens, at least in the first few months of life.
AB - Objective. Studies of multiple species have found that adverse early life experiences, including childhood trauma and maternal separation, can result in accelerated telomere shortening. The objective of this study was to determine if premature separation from the mother affected telomere length in domestic kittens (Felis catus). Subjects were 42 orphaned kittens and 10 mother-reared kittens from local animal rescue groups and shelters. DNA was extracted from whole blood collected from kittens at approximately 1 week and 2 months of age. Telomere length was assessed by qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) from a total of 86 samples and expressed as a ratio of telomere PCR relative to a single copy gene PCR (T/S). Results. A generalized linear mixed model found there were no detectable differences in telomere length based on survival (F1, 76.2 D 3.35, p D 0.07), orphan status (F1, 56.5 D 0.44, pD0.51), time point (F1, 43.5 D0.19, pD0.67), or the interaction between orphan status and time (F1, 43.5 D0.86, pD0.36). Although in other species telomere shortening is commonly associated with aging, even early in life, we did not find evidence for telomere shortening by two months of age. Our results suggest that the experience of early maternal separation in domestic cats who are subsequently hand-reared by humans does not accelerate telomere shortening compared to mother-reared kittens, at least in the first few months of life.
KW - Biological aging
KW - Domestic cats
KW - Maternal separation
KW - Telomere attrition
KW - Telomeres
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U2 - 10.7717/peerj.11394
DO - 10.7717/peerj.11394
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107060852
VL - 9
JO - PeerJ
JF - PeerJ
SN - 2167-8359
M1 - e11394
ER -