Insights into Biomedicine from Animal Adaptations

Abstract

Evolution represents a natural experimental process for testing animal design features. Driven by environmental pressures, animals have evolved adaptations which can give valuable insights into human biomedical conditions. The giraffe by virtue of its extremely long neck has a mean arterial pressure much higher than other mammals. However, the giraffe does not develop vascular damage or heart failure despite its high mean arterial pressure. The giraffe's cardiovascular physiology challenges a number of current concepts concerning the genesis of hypertensive vascular damage in the human. All animals senesce, and, in general, the manifestations of this senescence are similar to the aging features observed in humans. The characteristics of aging in natural animals strongly suggest that the so-called chronic degenerative diseases of humans are not really diseases but actually manifestations of the aging phenotype. Glucose regulation in birds and the naked mole rat has features which mimic the characteristics of the diabetic state, yet these animals do not develop the complications occurring in humans with diabetes. Disruptions in the functioning of the circadian molecular clock are thought to underlie certain neuropsychiatric disorders. The honeybee and the zebrafish have emerged as natural animal models for studying the regulation of molecular clocks and the mechanisms underlying plasticity of circadian rhythms. These examples underscore the valuable insights that natural animals can furnish with respect to biomedical disorders. Yet, this information data base remains a largely untapped resource.

Models for human porphyrias: Have animals in the wild been overlooked?

“…Wild animals have evolved adaptations, driven by environmental pressures, that are translated into physiological solutions to living in natural conditions. [22] The value of these adaptations to give insights into human biomedical disorders has only recently begun to be envisaged, [23] but the potential to biomedical research is huge. [22] In contrast to humans, some vertebrate animals accumulate large amounts of porphyrins in the body without any injurious symptoms, an observation that suggests that they have evolved solutions to potential toxicity from porphyrins.…”

“…Wild animals have evolved adaptations, driven by environmental pressures, that are translated into physiological solutions to living in natural conditions. [ 22 ] The value of these adaptations to give insights into human biomedical disorders has only recently begun to be envisaged, [ 23 ] but the potential to biomedical research is huge. [ 22 ]…”

Is aging an evolved developmental program?

“…De Magalhaes and Church [1] and de Magalhaes [11] have expanded their descriptions of the developmental theory of aging. In this theory, aging is at least partly programmed.…”

“…As the animal ages, the strength of natural selection weakens and fewer resources are devoted to repair and maintenance processes. With aging, the weakening of natural selection means that genomic variants with beneficial phenotypic effects in the early stages of the life cycle can be associated with deleterious phenotypic effects in late post-reproductive life cycle stages [1,2]. Within this construct, aging begins in the postreproductive period and is viewed as an age-related decline in the physiological function of organs due to the accumulation of deleterious mutations [1].…”

Computational Chemistry Laboratory: Calculating the Energy Content of Food Applied to a Real-Life Problem

“…15 Especially in the latter, some industries are already turning toward molecular computations as a primary source of research and development. 16 …”