Comparison of antigenicity of serum immunoglobulin G among human, cynomolgus monkey, African green monkey and squirrel monkey

Antigenicity of IgG was compared among human, the cynomolgus monkey, the African green monkey and the squirrel monkey by the quantitative precipitation test using purified IgG of and rabbit anti-IgG serum to each species. Clear cross-antigenicity was observed between the cynomolgus monkey and the African green monkey and less clear cross-antigenicity between human and the cynomolgus monkey or the African green monkey. The cross-antigenicity observed between the squirrel monkey and the other three species examined was evidently weak.     

A species comparison of low density lipoprotein heterogeneity in nonhuman primates fed atherogenic diets

Six male cynomolgus monkeys and five male African green monkeys were fed dietary cholesterol to induce hypercholesterolemia. The two groups studied had equivalent total plasma cholesterol concentrations. Low density lipoproteins (LDL) were isolated from whole plasma by ultracentrifugation and separated from other lipoprotein classes by agarose column chromatography. LDL were further subfractionated by density gradient ultracentrifugation in a VTi-50 vertical rotor. The material within five density regions was pooled from each sample and molecular weight, electrophoretic mobility, apoprotein heterogeneity, and percentage composition were determined for each subfraction. In general, cynomolgus monkey LDL were larger and more polydisperse than African green monkey LDL, and the LDL subfractions of cynomolgus monkeys were generally of lower densities although molecular weights at any density were in the same range for both species. ApoB-100 was the major apoprotein in each subfraction. ApoE was frequently present in the less dense subfractions while apoA-I was often seen in the more dense subfractions. Cynomolgus monkey LDL appeared to contain more apoE than African green monkey LDL. Over the entire spectrum of LDL, the percentage composition of the particles at any given density was indistinguishable between the species. In general, the average cynomolgus monkey LDL was larger, more polydisperse, less dense, and appeared to contain more apoE than the average African green monkey LDL. One or all of these differences might help explain the increased susceptibility to diet-induced atherosclerosis seen in cynomolgus monkeys.     

Generation of transgenic monkeys with human inherited genetic disease

Modeling human diseases using nonhuman primates including chimpanzee, rhesus, cynomolgus, marmoset and squirrel monkeys has been reported in the past decades. Due to the high similarity between nonhuman primates and humans, including genome constitution, cognitive behavioral functions, anatomical structure, metabolic, reproductive, and brain functions; nonhuman primates have played an important role in understanding physiological functions of the human body, clarifying the underlying mechanism of human diseases, and the development of novel treatments for human diseases. However, nonhuman primate research has been restricted to cognitive, behavioral, biochemical and pharmacological approaches of human diseases due to the limitation of gene transfer technology in nonhuman primates. The recent advancement in transgenic technology that has led to the generation of the first transgenic monkey in 2001 and a transgenic monkey model of Huntington’s disease (HD) in 2008 has changed that focus. The creation of transgenic HD monkeys that replicate key pathological features of human HD patients further suggests the crucial role of nonhuman primates in the future development of biomedicine. These successes have opened the door to genetic manipulation in nonhuman primates and a new era in modeling human inherited genetic disorders. We focused on the procedures in creating transgenic Huntington’s disease monkeys, but our work can be applied to transgenesis in other nonhuman primate species.     

Species identification of animal cells by nested PCR targeted to mitochondrial DNA

We developed a highly sensitive and convenient method of nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeted to mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to identify animal species quickly in cultured cells. Fourteen vertebrate species, including human, cynomolgus monkey, African green monkey, mouse, rat, Syrian hamster, Chinese hamster, guinea pig, rabbit, dog, cat, cow, pig, and chicken, could be distinguished from each other by nested PCR. The first PCR amplifies mitochondrial DNA fragments with a universal primer pair complementary to the conserved regions of 14 species, and the second PCR amplifies the DNA fragments with species-specific primer pairs from the first products. The species-specific primer pairs were designed to easily distinguish 14 species from each other under standard agarose gel electrophoresis. We further developed the multiplex PCR using a mixture of seven species-specific primer pairs for two groups of animals. One was comprised of human, mouse, rat, cat, pig, cow, and rabbit, and the other was comprised of African green monkey, cynomolgus monkey, Syrian hamster, Chinese hamster, guinea pig, dog, and chicken. The sensitivity of the PCR assay was at least 100 pg DNA/reaction, which was sufficient for the detection of each species of DNA. Furthermore, the nested PCR method was able to identify the species in the interspecies mixture of DNA. Thus, the method developed in this study will provide a useful tool for the authentication of animal species.     

Apolipoprotein A-I of primates

Monkey apoA-I was isolated by ultracentrifugation or immunoprecipitation and analyzed by isoelectric focusing and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The plasma apoA-I of 26 Old World monkeys (12 cynomolgus and 14 rhesus), 40 New World monkeys (8 cebus, 8 squirrel, 8 spider, 8 owl, and 8 marmosets), 6 prosimians (lemurs) and 10 apes (5 gibbons and 5 chimpanzees) were compared with each other as well as with human apoA-I. These analyses showed that monkey apoA-I contained one major and one to three minor (two basic and one acidic) isoproteins. The basic and acidic minor isoproteins differed by +2, +1, and -1 charges from the major apoA-I isoprotein designated apoA-I2. We have observed profound differences among the apoA-I electrophoretic patterns of the various primate species studied. The apparent isoelectric points of the major isoproteins of apoA-I of prosimians, Old World monkeys, New World monkeys, chimpanzees, gibbons, and humans were 5.70, 5.80, 5.35, 5.64, 5.42, and 5.64, respectively. The entire apoA-I isoprotein pattern of prosimians, Old World monkeys, chimpanzees, gibbons, and New World monkeys with respect to humans was shifted by approximately +1.5, +0.5, 0, -2.0, and -2.5 charges, respectively. The apoA-I synthesized by organ cultures of cynomolgus monkey intestine and liver overlaps on the two-dimensional system with the corresponding most basic minor plasma apoA-I isoprotein designated apoA-I2.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Species-Specific Responses to Tourist Interactions by White-Faced Capuchins (Cebus imitator) and Mantled Howlers (Alouatta palliata) in a Costa Rican Wildlife Refuge

Ecotourism shows great potential for primate conservation, but further investigation through an ethnoprimatological lens is vital to understanding species-specific variation in human–nonhuman primate interactions at ecotourism sites. This study measured the rates and types of human–monkey interactions, the participants in these encounters, and the association between tourist numbers and interaction rates with white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus imitator) and mantled howlers (Alouatta palliata) at the Curú Wildlife Refuge in western Costa Rica. I collected data through 15-min all-occurrence samples for human–monkey interactions between January 2006 and December 2007. I recorded and analyzed a total of 1949 discrete interactions, representing one tourist group and one non-tourist group for each species. For both species, tourist groups showed more varied and more intense—but not more frequent—human–monkey interactions than the non-tourist groups. White-faced capuchins differed from mantled howlers in their greater frequency and more variable forms of human–monkey interactions. White-faced capuchins also showed a more gregarious pattern of interactions than mantled howlers, with most capuchin interactions being initiated by the monkeys and involving multiple actors. Although mantled howler human interaction rates correlated positively with levels of human traffic, white-faced capuchins did not show this relationship. These findings demonstrate that the differences in human–monkey interactions across species are an important consideration for the management of primate tourism sites. This study suggests that species-specific guidelines for ecotourism would reduce visitor impact on nonhuman primates.