ReviewBioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology2016
Cumulative stress in research animals: Telomere attrition as a biomarker in a welfare context?
Review in BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The relationship between telomere length and mortality risk in non-model vertebrate systems: a meta-analysis.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2018Pooled it
- Fish welfare in a changing world: New developments and current challenges.Journal of fish biology · 2026Review
- Assessing good physical health and resilience as a foundation for positive welfare in chickens.Poultry science · 2026Review
- Heat stress and stocking density disrupt telomere maintenance through shelterin complex dysregulation and oxidative damage in broiler chickens.BMC veterinary research · 2025Article
- Telomere Tales: Exploring the Impact of Stress, Sociality, and Exercise on Dogs' Cellular Aging.Veterinary sciences · 2025Article
- Measuring minds: Understanding the mental states of dairy cattle in different management conditions.JDS communications · 2025Article
- Telomere Dynamics in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Critical Synthesis.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Telomere Length in Neonatal Dairy Calves in Relation to Lifetime Parameters.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Article
- Article
- Shortening of the telomere length during the transition period of dairy cows in relation to biological stress.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Directional selection, not the direction of selection, affects telomere length and copy number at ribosomal RNA loci.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Finding biomarkers of experience in animals.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2024Review
- Telomere Dynamics in Livestock.Biology · 2023Review
- Article
- Article
- Comparison of Telomere Length in Age-Matched Primiparous and Multiparous Brahman Cows.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Zoo Animal Welfare Assessment: Where Do We Stand?Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Molecular Cytogenetics in Domestic Bovids: A Review.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Progress in improving animal welfare is currently limited by the lack of objective methods for assessing lifetime experience. I propose that telomere attrition, a cellular biomarker of biological age, provides a molecular measure of cumulative experience that could be used to assess the welfare impact of husbandry regimes and/or experimental procedures on non-human animals. I review evidence from humans that telomere attrition is accelerated by negative experiences in a cumulative and dose-dependent manner, but that this attrition can be mitigated or even reversed by positive life-style interventions. Evidence from non-human animals suggests that despite some specific differences in telomere biology, stress-induced telomere attrition is a robust phenomenon, occurring in a range of species including mice and chickens. I conclude that telomere attrition apparently integrates positive and negative experience in an accessible common currency that translates readily to novel species--the Holy Grail of a cumulative welfare indicator.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.