Table 1.

Characteristics of aging model organisms.

Organism	Lifespan	Advantages	Disadvantages	Endocrine pathways linked to longevity
C. elegans	∼2 weeks	Short lifespan, easy to work with, genetically tractable	Lacks distinct endocrine tissues and various other tissue types, very distant from humans	IIS, steroids
Drosophila	∼3 months	Short lifespan, easy to work with, genetically tractable, has a wide range of tissue types, has adult stem cells	Distant from humans	IIS, ecdysone, JH
Honey bee	Varies depending on caste	Social structure affects lifespan allowing study of plasticity of aging	Distant from humans	Vitellogenin, JH, possibly IIS
Long-lived bivalves	Centuries	Exceptionally slow aging rate	Distant from humans	None so far
Zebrafish	∼4–5 years	Vertebrate, genetically tractable, small size, cheap to maintain	Longer lifespan than mice	None so far
Killifish	∼3 months	Vertebrate, exceptionally short lifespan, small size, cheap to maintain	New model	None so far
Salmon	Several years	Vertebrate, special case of programmed aging	Large size, relatively long lifespan	Corticosteroids, sex steroids, possibly IGF
Mouse	∼2–3 years	Mammal, relatively short-lived, many genetic tools available	Expensive to work with	GH, IGF, Insulin, klotho, angiotensin II, possibly thyroxine, possibly sex steroids
Naked mole rat	∼20–30 years	Mammal, very slow aging rate for size	New model	None so far
Non-human primates	Years to decades	Very similar to humans	Difficult and expensive to work with	None so far
Humans	∼80 years	Research is highly relevant for improving health	Limited ability to do experiments	IGF