One Health, Two Species: Linking Domestication to Cognitive Aging in Dogs and Humans.

Abstract

This commentary explores the parallel neuroanatomical and neurobiological evolution that ultimately led to modern dogs and humans, through domestication and self-domestication, respectively. The selective pressures for benignness and enhanced prosociality have reshaped brain anatomy and cognitive architecture in both Canis familiaris and Homo sapiens, leading to analogous changes including a reduction in limbic system volume and expansion of the prefrontal cortex, critical for executive control and social cognition. From a molecular point of view, shared genetic and epigenetic underpinnings of these adaptations and their implications gave rise to parallel trajectories in brain aging; notably, the emergence of canine cognitive dysfunction. Interestingly, this canine age-related cognitive decline presents significant overlaps with Alzheimer's disease in terms of both behavioral presentation and underlying pathology. In the context of a One Health perspective, the profound influence of shared environmental exposures, such as urbanization, pollutants, and stressors, on neurodevelopment, cognitive aging, and disease susceptibility offers a compelling translational model for understanding brain health within intertwined ecological and social contexts.