A short 10-week course of low-dose rapamycin improved heart function measures in healthy pet dogs with no clinical side effects.
| Evidence tier | C Animal in vivo |
| Study type | 4 - Animal Study |
| Model system | Companion dogs (client-owned, RCT) |
| Journal | GeroScience |
| Year | 2017 |
| Peer reviewed | Yes |
| Source | DOI 10.1007/s11357-017-9972-z · PMID 28374166 · Free full text (PMC5411365) |
Age is the single greatest risk factor for most causes of morbidity and mortality in humans and their companion animals. As opposed to other model organisms used to study aging, dogs share the human environment, are subject to similar risk factors, receive comparable medical care, and develop many of the same age-related diseases humans do. In this study, 24 middle-aged healthy dogs received either placebo or a non-immunosuppressive dose of rapamycin for 10 weeks. All dogs received clinical and hematological exams before, during, and after the trial and echocardiography before and after the trial. Our results showed no clinical side effects in the rapamycin-treated group compared to dogs receiving the placebo. Echocardiography suggested improvement in both diastolic and systolic age-related measures of heart function (E/A ratio, fractional shortening, and ejection fraction) in the rapamycin-treated dogs. Hematological values remained within the normal range for all parameters studied; however, the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) was decreased in rapamycin-treated dogs. Based on these results, we will test rapamycin on a larger dog cohort for a longer period of time in order to validate its effects on cardiac function and to determine whether it can significantly improve healthspan and reduce mortality in companion dogs.
| Intervention | Rapamycin (short-term) |
| Target | mTOR |
| Model | Companion dogs (client-owned RCT, n=24) |
| Effect | Short-term rapamycin was well tolerated in middle-aged dogs, with signs of improved cardiac function |