INNOVATIVE NURSERY-REARING FOR IMPROVING RHESUS MACAQUES AS BIOMEDICAL MODELS

University Of California At Davis, Davis CA

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Abstract

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. A major goal of the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) is to maintain successful breeding programs at NCRR-funded primate centers for specific-pathogen-free (SPF) macaque monkeys that are free of common retroviruses that can interfere with AIDS experiments and other types of research. SPF colonies are currently established by raising infants without their non-SPF mothers. Therefore, key to the long-term success of establishing and maintaining these SPF colonies is to develop efficacious strategies for raising infant monkeys in ways which minimize the emergence of behavioral pathologies due to social deprivation of their mothers and which will lead to the development of social competence. The proposed study will lead to the development of an interactive surrogate-peer rearing design that will provide both an attachment figure to the infant as well as response-contingency relationships with the attachment figure (surrogate) and peers. Providing these features during early development should result in nursery-reared infants with more normal social, motor, perceptual and cognitive skills than nursery-reared infants without these features.