BIRREN 17365 were recruited as volunteers to be residents in the NIH Clinical
Center for two weeks each. During the two weeks, numerous laborato
ries made physical, physiological, psychological and social assessments
of the volunteers. This was one of the earliest attempts to distinguish
healthy aging in contrast to the debilitating effects of specific diseases
associated with advancing age. The comprehensive report of the complet
ed research project included the details of the many measurements that
were made on the sample of healthy older men and was well received.^3
Of the many findings of the project, an important one was that
cerebral circulation and metabolism were not significantly lower in the
healthy older men compared with what was normal for younger men.^4
Earlier studies that reported reductions with age were likely influenced
by use of residents of facilities for the aged who were not representa
tive of the healthy, elderly population. Another finding was that psycho
social losses experienced by the healthy, elderly subjects were reflected
in their physiological status. This finding corroborated the view that
not only do biological influences affect the mental well being of aging
individuals but also that psychosocial events influence health and
physical well being.^5
Section on Aging Research
In addition to participation in the comprehensive study of the healthy,
elderly men, the Section on Aging conducted numerous other research
projects in humans and also in rats. The section maintained a rat colony,
the Fisher strain, throughout the life span of the rats. This colony provid
ed the basis for conducting behavioral and biological studies of aging
in the rats and also for following up features of human aging that might
have related processes or analogues in the rat population.
William Bondareff, a neuroanatomist, examined many features of the
rat’s aging nervous system, including the deposit of pigment in the cells
of the spinal ganglia.^6 His research is summarized in his chapter on the
morphology of the aging nervous system in the volume edited by me.^7
Eugene Streicher, a physiologist, did pioneering research on the
aging of the nervous system of aging rats. He studied the distribution of
mineral content in the brains of aging rats. Later, with Joel Garbus, he