Formerly bile-farmed bears as a model of accelerated ageing

Szilvia K. Kalogeropoulu, Hanna Rauch-Schmücking, Emily J. Lloyd, Peter Stenvinkel, Paul G. Shiels, Richard J. Johnson, Ole Fröbert, Irene Redtenbacher, Iwan A. Burgener, Johanna Painer-Gigler*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperJournal articleResearchpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Bear bile-farming is common in East and Southeast Asia and this farming practice often results in irreversible health outcomes for the animals. We studied long-term effects of chronic bacterial and sterile hepatobiliary inflammation in 42 Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus) rescued from Vietnamese bile farms. The bears were examined under anesthesia at least twice as part of essential medical interventions. All bears were diagnosed with chronic low-grade sterile or bacterial hepatobiliary inflammation along with pathologies from other systems. Our main finding was that the chronic low-grade inflammatory environment associated with bile extraction in conjunction with the suboptimal living conditions on the farms promoted and accelerated the development of age-related pathologies such as chronic kidney disease, obese sarcopenia, cardiovascular remodeling, and degenerative joint disease. Through a biomimetic approach, we identified similarities with inflammation related to premature aging in humans and found significant deviations from the healthy ursid phenotype. The pathological parallels with inflammageing and immuno-senescence induced conditions in humans suggest that bile-farmed bears may serve as animal models to investigate pathophysiology and deleterious effects of lifestyle-related diseases.

Original languageEnglish
Article number9691
JournalScientific Reports
Volume13
Issue1
Number of pages10
ISSN2045-2322
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2023

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