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Naked mole-rat mortality rates defy Gompertzian laws by not increasing with age
J. Graham Ruby, Megan Smith, Rochelle Buffenstein
eLife · 2018 · ▲ 264 citations
Abstract
, has a reported maximum lifespan of >30 years and exhibits delayed and/or attenuated age-associated physiological declines. We questioned whether these mouse-sized, eusocial rodents conform to Gompertzian mortality laws by experiencing an exponentially increasing risk of death as they get older. We compiled and analyzed a large compendium of historical naked mole-rat lifespan data with >3000 data points. Kaplan-Meier analyses revealed a substantial portion of the population to have survived at 30 years of age. Moreover, unlike all other mammals studied to date, and regardless of sex or breeding-status, the age-specific hazard of mortality did not increase with age, even at ages 25-fold past their time to reproductive maturity. This absence of hazard increase with age, in defiance of Gompertz's law, uniquely identifies the naked mole-rat as a non-aging mammal, confirming its status as an exceptional model for biogerontology.
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- 10.7554/elife.31157
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- 2026-10-18 MST
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APA
Ruby, J.G., Smith, M., & Buffenstein, R. (2018). Naked mole-rat mortality rates defy Gompertzian laws by not increasing with age. <em>eLife</em>. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.31157
Vancouver
Ruby JG, Smith M, Buffenstein R. Naked mole-rat mortality rates defy Gompertzian laws by not increasing with age. eLife. 2018. doi:10.7554/elife.31157.
BibTeX
@article{j2018Nakedm,
title = {Naked mole-rat mortality rates defy Gompertzian laws by not increasing with age},
author = {J. Graham Ruby and Megan Smith and Rochelle Buffenstein},
journal = {eLife},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.7554/elife.31157},
}
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