The effects of a long-term psychosocial stress on reproductive indicators in the baboon.

Psychosocial stress is thought to negatively impact fecundity, but human studies are confounded by variation in nutrition and lifestyle. Baboons offer a useful model to test the effect of prolonged mild stress on reproductive indicators in a controlled setting. Following relocation from social groups to solitary housing, a previously documented stressful event for nonhuman primates, daily urine samples, tumescence, and menstrual bleeding were monitored in twenty baboons (Papio sp.) for 120-150 days. Specimens were assayed for estrone conjugates (E1C), pregnanediol-3-glucuronide (PDG), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and cortisol. Linear mixed effects models examined (1) the effects of stress on frequency of anovulation, hormone levels, tumescence and cycle length, and (2) the relationship of cortisol with reproductive indicators. Despite cortisol levels indicative of stress, anovulation was negligible (1% in 102 cycles). PDG, FSH, cycle length, and tumescence declined during the first four cycles, but began recovery by the fifth. Cortisol was negatively associated with FSH but not associated with PDG, E1C or tumescence. Ovulation, E1C, and luteal phase length were not affected. Tumescence tracked changes in FSH and PDG, and thus may be a useful indicator of stress on the reproductive axis. Elevated cortisol was associated with reduced FSH, supporting a model of cortisol action at the hypothalamus rather than the gonad. After four to five menstrual cycles the reproductive indicators began recovery, suggesting adjustment to new housing conditions. In conclusion, individual housing is stressful for captive baboons, as reflected by cortisol and reproductive indicators, although ovulation, a relatively direct proxy for fecundity, is unaffected.

Clinical parameters of the normal baboons (Papio species) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Improved equipment and advanced progressive techniques by scientists using baboons and chimpanzees in biomedical research have resulted in improved clinical laboratory data. The use of state-of-the-art clinical laboratory instruments, methodologies with improved accuracy, and an increased variety of individual tests routinely requested and performed has necessitated the comparison of current data with prior data produced in our laboratory and with those values reported in the literature. In addition to an expanded hematologic profile, including red blood cell distribution width and mean platelet volume, and a more comprehensive chemical profile of 28 individual tests, additional data collected included values for coagulation profiles, arterial blood gases, serum protein electrophoresis, and urine osmolalities. Samples for evaluation were obtained from clinically normal sedated adult baboons (Papio species) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and processed conventionally according to Good Laboratory Practice Act standards. Arithmetic means were calculated, values of 3 standard deviations or greater were eliminated, and means were recalculated to include 2 standard deviations. All data correlated well with prior in-house values, and no remarkable differences from established data were detected, thus indicating the reliability of past and present data. Data compared favorably with normal clinical values established for humans.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of substances that carry blood group A specificity.

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to estimate the amount of material carrying blood group A activity in biologic samples. A soluble synthetic form of the A antigenic determinant (A trisaccharide, ATS) conjugated to peroxidase competes with the blood group A substance present in a biologic sample for anti-A attached to a solid phase by a second antibody coating the plastic micro-wells. A reference curve is constructed by using known quantities of ATS to compete with a fixed amount of ATS-peroxidase conjugate. The A substance activity in a sample is obtained by extrapolating the degree of inhibition of the binding of the ATS-peroxidase conjugate to an equivalent amount of ATS in the reference curve. The assay is reproducible, specific, and sensitive. It has been used in pharmacologic studies to estimate the concentration of ATS in the blood and urine of rats, rabbits, and baboons and in a study with human samples, testing the potential clinical use of ATS to neutralize anti-A when therapeutically indicated. It is also useful for the detection of ABO natural products in secretions, thus allowing the accurate classification of secretor and nonsecretor individuals.