The Uniqueness of Human Vulnerability to Brain Aging in Great Ape Evolution

Aging is associated with robust decline of the brains gray matter. This spatially specific, morphological change in humans has recently been found in chimpanzees. Direct comparison of age-related brain deterioration between these great ape species can provide a unique evolutionary perspective on human brain aging. Here, we present a data-driven, cross-species comparative framework to explore the relationship between gray matter atrophy with age and cross-species cerebral expansion in chimpanzees and humans. In humans, we found a positive relationship between cerebral aging and cortical expansion, whereas, in chimpanzees no such relationship was found. The greater aging and expansion effects in higher-order cognitive regions like the orbito-frontal cortex were observed to be unique to humans. This resembles the last in, first out hypothesis for neurodevelopment and may represent a biological cost for recent evolutionary developments of human faculties.